5 October 2017
+VIDEO Another contender in the burgeoning electric person-carrying fully automatic drone market is Passenger Drone – and it has already flown manned flights.
The two-seat Passenger Drone can be flown manually by a pilot, or in autonomous mode. Passengers simply select their destination on the touchscreen controls, sit back and be flown to their destination at up to 70kph (45mph).
The Californian company behind Passenger Drone said flight testing started in early May 2017 and has since been through intensive testing with different simulated payload weights, simulated engine failures and different control modes. In August 2017 the first manned flights with passengers onboard took place.
“Passenger feedback is overwhelming,” said the company. “The Passenger Drone is very easy to fly in both manual and autonomous modes and it shows amazing stability and manoeuvrability.”
Passenger Drone is equipped with 16 electric engines, with an airframe constructed from carbon fibre composites. The avionics, stability systems and electrical control systems have been custom designed. Apart from the main power cables, there are no wires in the aircraft – everything else is connected by fibre optics.
Passenger Drone seats two in tandem
Touchscreen controls have been custom built for the aircraft. It can be flown manually or autonomously
Test flights started last May and, in August, manned flights took place
Passenger Drone’s plan identifies many social and economic benefits of such a vehicle. It says the average travel time to work in the United States is 25.4 minutes, representing almost an hour every day, and just under two weeks annually. In 2016, the total cost of congestion to all drivers in the US was $300 billion (including environmental costs), and that total is expected to rise by 50 percent over the next fifteen years. “In many global megacities, the situation is far worse,” said the company.
FAST FACTS
Passenger Drone
Seats 2
Flight time 20-25 minutes
Max speed 60-70mph (45mph)
Propulsion 16 electric motors and propellers
Empty weight (including batteries) 240kg (520lb)
Max take-off weight 360kg (800lb)
Max payload 120kg (270lb)
