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Watch Airbus' radical autonomous air taxi complete its 'most exciting' test yet
A radical electric passenger drone developed by Airbus has completed its first full transition flight, proving its ability to take off vertically and accelerate to over 100 miles per hour before slowing down for a soft landing. Vahana, the project working to bring the craft to life under Airbus's innovation arm, shared incredible footage of the accomplishment this week. The test marked Vahana's 66th flight, a number it has since surpassed by more than a dozen. In a blog post announcing the milestone, Vahana's Zach Lovering said the test'represents everything we set out to achieve when we began our flight test campaign.' The successful full transition flight was performed on May 3 in Oregon. 'In the video, you'll see Vahana take off vertically and then accelerate forward, much like in other videos we've shared,' Lovering explains.
- North America > United States > Oregon (0.26)
- North America > United States > California > Santa Clara County > San Jose (0.06)
- Europe > France > Île-de-France > Paris > Paris (0.05)
- Transportation > Air (1.00)
- Aerospace & Defense > Aircraft (1.00)
Watch Airbus' drone taxi take to the skies for the first time
The Vahana team's goal is to leverage new and emerging technologies like electric propulsion and machine vision to "democratize personal flight." Their drone only lifted off the ground and touched back down during its first set of tests -- they definitely have a long road ahead to get it ready for forward flight -- but it was a huge deal for the team and the company. If they succeed, Airbus could eventually use the drone for an autonomous passenger network that will give people a way to hail a flying taxi to get to where they want to go.
- Transportation > Air (0.40)
- Aerospace & Defense > Aircraft (0.40)
- Transportation > Passenger (0.34)