Airbus Is About To Build A Self-Flying Electric Robo-Taxi (fastcompany.com)

Posted by msmash on Wednesday February 1, 2017 @10:00AM from the future-of-transportation dept.

Airbus said today it is building a prototype of an electric self-flying plane for a single passenger, which it is calling the Vahana. The autonomous plane can fly a single passenger on trips of around 50 miles. From a report on FastCompany: Airbus teased two possibilities for the Vahana on December 14: an electric helicopter and a plane with wings that tilt up to enable vertical take off and landing, or VTOL. After its engineers ran the numbers on both types, Airbus today announced that it's building a prototype of the sci-fi looking tilt-wing plane, which will begin test flights before the end of the year. "The vehicle is being built. Parts are being made as we speak," says Airbus chief engineer Geoffrey Bower. The company's goal is to get air taxis in service in about 10 years, possibly partnering with ride-hailing companies like Uber. "We would love to see what that kind of partnership might evolve into," says Maryanna Saenko of Airbus Ventures.

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I'm a bit suspicious by Lucas123 · 2017-02-01 10:11 · Score: 4, Funny

Is it just me, or does that "flying taxi" look an awful lot like Skynet's Hunter Killer drone.
SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP by Anonymous Coward · 2017-02-01 10:29 · Score: 3, Funny

neeerrrrrrddddddddddddddddddddddddd
Re:Uber application. by BiggerIsBetter · 2017-02-01 12:41 · Score: 4, Funny

This seems to be a perfect product for the Uber app...
No, I think Lyft would be a better fit for this one.

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Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.