Passenger drone

A year later in the United States, testing of Kettering Bug, a 12-foot long biplane attached with a bomb and that launched via a “slingshot-like rail”, was also under progress.

[2] Both of their unreliable test results and their possibility of endangering friendly troops in deployment caused neither aircraft to be used during the war.

[3] Late 20th century also saw the proposition and development of unique methods of travel, including personal jetpacks and even flying cars.

The first passenger drone was unveiled on January 6 of 2016 at the international Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Produced by Ehang, a Chinese company based in Guangzhou, the 184 was a one passenger drone equipped with four propellers that could fly for approximately 23 minutes at a top speed of 63 mph.

[6] New structural advancements, such as the flapping-wing propulsion system based on the mechanisms of birds’ wings, are more available as they have proven their capabilities in laboratory testing.

[6] This capacity limit must be addressed for passenger drones; given current designs strive to carry a maximum of 5 people.

[10] While this brings additional security issues, including maintaining reliable communication channels in the case of technological failure, researchers hope that this will help reduce crashes that can result in damage to passengers, buildings, and people in and around the airspace.

[20] CityAirbus is a drone project developed by Airbus, a European multinational aerospace company, based in the Netherlands.

[25] Other potential benefits include the use of passenger drones by emergency services such as search and rescue missions and the delivery of life saving goods.

Companies like Ehang have already begun using passenger drones as emergency vehicles as a response to the potential river collapses during the flood season in China.

Passenger drones can be very noisy; a single passenger drone such as Joby Aviation’s all-electric vertical take-off and landing (“eVTOL”) aircraft has an estimated noise production of 70 decibels (dB), a noise level equating to “loud traffic”.