4 ms·

Funny you mention that. I just saw the below on reddit the other day. https://explorersweb.com/jetson-one-giant-passenger-drone/ https://explorersweb.com/jetso

• echelon 5y ago
  Put a giant pre-inflated airbag around it and that might not be unreasonable.
• Animats 5y ago
  That's a nice piece of hardware. There are other big, people-carrying drones. eHang was probably the first, in 2016. They've actually sold a few. Price is above US$300K. They routinely fly above cities. Like everybody else, they're battery-limited. Their limit is about 30 minutes. All those un-shrouded spinning blades at low height are worrisome.
  • FabHK 5y ago
    eHang was not the first, but they do seem to have good marketing. German company Volocopter flew a manned demonstration rig in 2011 (the famous pilates ball [1]), and had the first manned flight of the Volocopter multicopter (certified, 18 rotors) in February 2016, with the CEO himself flying [2]. I don't know when the eHang 184 flew first (a video on youtube says Feb 2018 [3]). Personally, I find the design (with 8 rotors in a quadratic arrangement at knee-height, perfect for decapitating pedestrians) atrocious. (The Volocopter blades are above the cabin, as in a helicopter.) And where do you get the 30 minutes endurance for the eHang from? When I divide the range by the cruise speed from Wikipedia, I get about 8 minutes endurance. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L75ESD9PBOw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L75ESD9PBOw [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OazFiIhwAEs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OazFiIhwAEs [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr1V-r2YxME https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr1V-r2YxME