Flying cars, eVTOL and jet pack news and discussion thread

[Yuli Ban]

[wjfox]

Flying taxis being tested for use at 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris

November 29, 2021

Does this mean the future promised by “The Jetsons” in 1962 — one with flying cars — is finally coming to fruition?

The city of Paris has announced an “unprecedented” program to launch flying passenger drones — to be used as taxis during the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Pilot testing is already underway on their large-scale electric drone aircrafts which they hope will be used to shuttle sports fans from one Olympic arena to another. They hope to establish two flight paths for air taxis, to allay traffic in the densely populated city during the international event, which has seen an average of about 6 million ticket holders in recent years.

Some 30 aeronautics manufacturers throughout Europe have already been enlisted to conduct test flights at the Pontoise airfield in Cormeilles-en-Vexin, Paris, including Volocopter, Airbus, Vertical Aerospace and Ascendance, Lilium and Joby Aviation, with others expected to join the project.

https://nypost.com/2021/11/29/paris-to- ... -olympics/

[weatheriscool]

Bellwether's gorgeous Volar eVTOL begins flight testing at half-scale
By Loz Blain
December 30, 2021
https://newatlas.com/aircraft/bellwether-volar-evtol/

The UK's Bellwether Industries has built and flown a half-scale prototype of its stunning Volar eVTOL, and is preparing to release footage. It's the most brazenly futuristic design we've ever seen, a flying hypercar for a utopia even sci-fi doesn't dare dream up.

I mean, look at the thing. It looks like it's doing 200 miles an hour sitting still. The lines are graceful, even sensual. The profile razor-sharp. The slanted louvers give it a rib cage and warn of frightening velocities. The stubby vee of the tailfins evokes the threat of a fighter jet, but the layered bodywork and its sumptuous, gleaming finish tell us this is a design of peace, hope and ambition.

This is a design to stir the imagination and the passions. You can picture it knifing into a cloud bank, leaving gently swirling vortices of vapor as the only calling card of its silent visit. You can see it gently touching down on an impossibly high-rise vertipad, its sleek glass roof retracting to let a lady and a gentleman out, dressed for the opera and right on time.
A stunningly-designed flying supercar for a sophisticated and genteel utopian future

[weatheriscool]

Autoflight shows off its first eVTOL lift & cruise transition test
By Loz Blain
February 17, 2022
https://newatlas.com/aircraft/autofligh ... est-video/

Chinese eVTOL company Autoflight has released video of its first unmanned transition flight, moving from vertical lift to wing-supported cruise at speed. The video is a perfect demonstration of the common "lift & cruise" style of eVTOL design.

It's a significant milestone for Autoflight, which has opened an office in Germany recently in order to take aim at the European air taxi market. The aircraft, Prosperity I, is a 4-seat piloted design that promises a range of 155 miles (250 km) at cruise speeds up to 124 mph (200 km/h).

It's a lift & cruise design, with the passenger pod supported on a pair of large wings. These feature long propulsion pods running front to back, which hold three large lift props apiece, and a fourth pair are elevated to a higher plane to keep the aircraft compact. The propulsion pods are linked at the front by an additional front wing, complete with control surfaces, and there's a pusher prop at the rear of the cabin for horizontal flight.

[Tadasuke]

[Yuli Ban]

Still not convinced, but when we see the rise of autonomous vehicle tech fully maturing, then I'll buy the idea that flying cars are feasible. That said, I prefer this form factor.

[weatheriscool]

World's first vertiport for drones and flying cars opens in Coventry

Mon, April 25, 2022, 3:03 AM·4 min read
EDITORIAL USE ONLY General views of the T150 Malloy Aeronautics Ltd drone in flight at the opening of Air-One by Urban-Air Port, Coventry. Issue date: Monday April 25, 2022.

The T150 Malloy Aeronautics drone in flight at the opening of the Air-One vertiport in Coventry on Monday. (PA)

The world's first vertiport - a transport hub for future vehicles like drones and air taxis - has opened in the UK.

The Air-One hub has launched in Coventry and will allow manned and unmanned vehicles to take off and land.

https://news.yahoo.com/vertiport-drones ... 21868.html

[Yuli Ban]

Proponents hailed Air-One as the first of its type, ushering in a new era of low-emission futuristic air transportation. Air-One is a so-called "vertiport" for drones and future electric vehicles taking off and landing vertically.

The property will be used for a month-long demonstration of the expanding industry in Coventry, a former car manufacturing powerhouse in central England.

The six-bottle crate of sparkling wine, weighing roughly 12 kilograms, was symbolically lifted from the launch pad during the initial flight.

According to Ricky Sandhu, founder and executive chairman of Urban-Air Port, the British corporation behind the vertiport endeavor, the commercial drone used—Malloy Aeronautics' T150, on loan from its day job performing logistics for the British military—is the largest ever to operate in such an urban area.

"You're standing in the world's first fully operational vertiport," he told the crowd of hundreds, which included the start-25 up's employees and government backers.

[Yuli Ban]

The world’s first airport for flying cars opens in the UK

A three-hour drive away from the busy streets of London, Air-One has been set up in Coventry, a city that gave us the inventor of the jet engine and the Jaguar brand of cars. The project is a partnership between the Coventry City Council and Urban Air-Port to demonstrate how urban air mobility can reduce air pollution and congestion on the roads.

Powered by hydrogen fuel cells, Air One is designed to be fully autonomous and integrates with electric vehicles to deliver a zero-emission urban public transport system. The airport can handle electric drones and air taxis and has collaborated with Hyundai's air mobility arm, Supernal, to use a full-sized model of their SA-1 air taxi as a demonstrator.

At the airport, one can witness all the elements of urban mobility such as passenger taxi processing, command and control center, logistics, charging infrastructure as well as disaster management and security services. One can also experience live-flight demonstrations with drones that will also see the local police participate in operational scenarios, Air One's website reads.

Air One has an address in Coventry but only till the 15th of May. After that, the company plans to wrap up the airport and then set it up again at other sites in the U.K. to take the experience closer to people.

[Nanotechandmorefuture]

Still not convinced, but when we see the rise of autonomous vehicle tech fully maturing, then I'll buy the idea that flying cars are feasible. That said, I prefer this form factor.

Didn't the nazis do one like this? Every time the History Channel here in the USA does a coverage of cool technology in World War 2 their saucer makes an appearance. Then again maybe the public isn't ready for jet equipment style ones and these propellor ones will have to do.

[Yuli Ban]

Korea has emerged as a battlefield among domestic and foreign companies that seek to gain supremacy in the urban air mobility (UAM) market, since the government unveiled its roadmap in 2020 to commercialize drone taxis by 2025 at the earliest to ease traffic congestion on Seoul's roads.

As the newly launched Yoon Suk-yeol administration also selected UAM as one of the key industries for the future, companies in various fields have accelerated their efforts to offer urban air travel services that can cut travel time in downtown Seoul by two-thirds.

The latest example was a consortium led by LG Uplus.

The telecommunication company said on May 11 that it joined hands with Kakao Mobility, GS Caltex, Jeju Air, Pablo Air and Vertical Aerospace to participate in the government's K-UAM Grand Challenge project.

[Yuli Ban]

[Yuli Ban]

[weatheriscool]

Samson Switchblade flying car is finally ready for takeoff
By Loz Blain
August 01, 2022
https://newatlas.com/aircraft/samson-sw ... 2-91968585

After 14 years of development, the Samson Switchblade – a fast, street-legal three-wheeler that converts at the touch of a button into a 200-mph (322-km/h) airplane – has been approved for airworthiness by the FAA. The team is now preparing for flight tests.

The Switchblade is named after the knife-like way its wings swing out from beneath its two-seat cabin when it's time to fly. The tail, too, swings out from where it's stowed behind the large pusher prop, then unfolds into a generous T shape. Samson says the entire push-button conversion from street-legal trike to aircraft takes less than three minutes, and while it's yet to demonstrate the entire process on a physical prototype, it looks like it'll be a pretty spectacular process.

It runs on a 3-cylinder, 1.6-liter liquid-cooled engine that takes 91-octane pump gas and makes 190 horsepower. This is effectively used as a generator, powering electric wheels in drive mode and an electric prop motor when it's time to fly. As a three-wheeler, it can be registered as a motorcycle in many areas, and Samson says it's capable of speeds over 125 mph (201 km/h).

[Yuli Ban]

As a boy, Shuhei Komatsu loved Star Wars movies, especially the lightning-fast land speeders.

So when he grew up, he decided to make one of his own, he said.

"I wanted to make something from the movie real," Komatsu said. "It's a land speeder for the Dark Side."

On Wednesday, he and his AERWINS Technologies company put his vision for a machine that can race above the ground on display at the North American Auto Show in front of Huntington Place in downtown Detroit. It's the first time the company's XTURISMO hoverbike has appeared in the U.S., officials said.

[Nanotechandmorefuture]

As a boy, Shuhei Komatsu loved Star Wars movies, especially the lightning-fast land speeders.

So when he grew up, he decided to make one of his own, he said.

"I wanted to make something from the movie real," Komatsu said. "It's a land speeder for the Dark Side."

On Wednesday, he and his AERWINS Technologies company put his vision for a machine that can race above the ground on display at the North American Auto Show in front of Huntington Place in downtown Detroit. It's the first time the company's XTURISMO hoverbike has appeared in the U.S., officials said.

Wonder how many years until those flying jetbikes used in the Star Wars Ewok world

[weatheriscool]

Jetoptera targets Mach 0.8 with bladeless-propulsion VTOL aircraft
By Loz Blain
January 16, 2023
https://newatlas.com/aircraft/jetoptera ... ss-hsvtol/

Like bladeless Dyson fans on steroids, Jetoptera's unique aircraft propulsion systems look like pure sci-fi. But they're beginning to demonstrate some fascinating capabilities in testing, and the next step will be a super-fast VTOL aircraft design.
How Jetoptera's Fluidic Propulsion Systems work

We've explained these fluidic propulsion systems before in detail. Indeed, Sir James Dyson did a pretty decent job of explaining the basic concept to The Telegraph back in 2010. But in a nutshell, they're not magic, they don't use ionic propulsion, and while there are no blades or moving parts visible, they require a flow of compressed air to function.

You can use whatever you like as a compressed air source, but Jetoptera doesn't see a ton of utility at this point in an electric compressor; battery density simply isn't high enough to deliver range figures the company would consider useful. Instead, the company is starting out with efficient gas turbine generators, routing the exhaust gas through the fluidic propulsion systems.

This compressed air is forced through tiny, directional slits all around the inner surface of Jetoptera's hollow propulsion units. These inner surfaces are shaped like wings, and they do the same job, creating a low-pressure vortex right in the middle of the loop as the compressed air rushes over them.

[weatheriscool]

This Personal eVTOL Is Just Under $100k and Could Fly As Soon As Next Year
For $98,000, Jetson says you’ll soon be able to commute to work via the sky.
By Adrianna Nine April 25, 2023
https://www.extremetech.com/aerospace/t ... -next-year

Between United Airlines’ $10 million investment in electric “air taxis” and Hyundai’s goal to bring rideshare apps to the skies, we hear a lot about electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, or eVTOLs. But these stories tend to have two things in common: Not only are they longer-term projects (with United’s first air taxi route opening in 2025 at the earliest), but they’re designed for the public.

Jetson might change that. The Swedish electric aviation company is working to introduce an affordable personal eVTOL that doesn’t require a pilot’s license, and it says it’ll be fulfilling pre-orders as early as 2024.

With its single seat and eight propellers, the Jetson One looks like a cross between a Formula 1 race car and a helicopter. This is by design. At just 190 pounds, the eVTOL is petite enough to meet the US Federal Aviation Administration’s requirements for ultralight vehicles, which don’t require a pilot’s license to operate. It can lift pilots to 1,500 feet above ground level using its 88 KW battery propulsion system. The propellers attached to the Jetson One’s four fold-out arms facilitate a maximum 63 MPH glide.

[weatheriscool]

Pterodyamics scales up its remarkable dihedral Transwing eVTOL
By Loz Blain
May 08, 2023

Fresh video shows that one of the most fascinating eVTOL aircraft designs we've seen is now flying at larger scale. The Transwing platform uses a unique dihedral folding wing system to move between hover and cruise modes, unlocking huge advantages.

Transitioning electric VTOL aircraft can take off and land more or less like multicopter drones, but then cruise efficiently in forward flight supported by wing lift. There are literally hundreds of companies racing to bring different designs to market, and they all have to deal with the same set of problems.

https://newatlas.com/aircraft/pterodyam ... wing-x-p4/

[weatheriscool]

MagLev Aero unveils "breakthrough" HyperDrive eVTOL propulsion system
By Loz Blain
June 20, 2023
https://newatlas.com/aircraft/maglev-ae ... ropulsion/

A fascinating eVTOL project is about to come out of stealth, showcasing a "breakthrough HyperDrive propulsion technology" that MagLev Aero claims is "dramatically more quiet, efficient, safe, sustainable and emotionally appealing to the mass market."

Representatives from the Boston-based company have made their way to the Paris Air Show, where they're preparing to reveal a very different approach to electric vertical lift aircraft, drawing on the magnetic levitation technology used in high-speed trains.

What we appear to have here is an annular lift fan arrangement. The aircraft's cabin appears to be surrounded by a huge ring-shaped duct, into which at least one large-diameter, many-bladed fan is mounted.

This circular rotor is kept frictionlessly separated from its enclosure using permanent magnets, so it's free to spin when driven. It's driven by a series of distributed, redundant electromagnetic propulsors around the rim.

The benefits here are clear: big fans with low disc loading are highly efficient, and can generate useful levels of lift at relatively low speeds. This will help keep the noise down, particularly since they're surrounded by ducts, and should stretch the hover time available from a battery compared to a smaller-fan design.

Without having yet seen the presentation, we may as well now wander off into the realm of wild speculation.

I'd be surprised if it's just a single annular fan; it seems more likely to me that there are two in there, set to counter-rotate. That'd give it a healthy dollop of additional thrust, some vertical lift redundancy, and the ability to control yaw using inertia.