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A Chinese drone maker has revealed a giant quadcopter big enough to fit a passenger. EHang claims to be building the world's first 'Autonomous Aerial Vehicle' for transporting people. Unveiled at CES in Las Vegas and called the 184, the all-electric vehicle has four arms with a total of eight propellers at the end. 'You know how it feels to sit in a Ferrari? This is 10 times better,' George Yan, co-founder of Ehang said in an interview with DailyMail.com.
The company says the 184 is autonomous, so all the passenger has to do is enter in their destination in the smartphone app, sit back, and let the drone take over.
There's no option to take control of the 184 remotely. The cockpit is empty, apart from a stand to place a smartphone or tablet and a cup holder.
'I think in all of us there is that little kid in all of us that says I want to fly,' said Yan. 'I don’t want to get a pilot license after five or 10 hours of flying, I want to do it right away. We’re making that dream happen.'
originally posted by: NoCorruptionAllowed
Being a cessna private pilot, I would love to fly one of these, but I wouldn't do it unless it had manual flight mode available. It is still the coolest looking man made aircraft I have ever seen.
originally posted by: Jonjonj
a reply to: Lagomorphe
An ejector seat!!!
I spat tea then just at the mental image, think pea in a whistle.
originally posted by: XL5
In my opinion the blades need ducts for more efficiency and they need to be above the cockpit. There is a reason helicopters have the blades above the center of gravity.
originally posted by: Lagomorphe
A nice idea indeed and wonderful technology with a smart future ahead...
However :
It would be nice to know what the battery life and distance rate of this drone would be seeing as it is all electric.
They say that it can fly up to 10 miles... what happens when the drone exceeds that distance?
I would also be worried about something going wrong if this drone is controlled simply by ones Smartphone...
Smartphones and apps are so easy to hack nowadays?
And they are thinking of having this commercialised later this year?
2 and a half years seems too much of a short time to R and D a project like this... I prefer to wait.
A nice expensive toy for those that can afford it though...
Kindest
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