Technology –
Flying Drone Of The Future
Coming Soon
You know you’ve always dreamed of having a flying car — but what about a flying drone?
Technology
Imagine commuting to work thousands of feet in the air, above thousands of cars and highway congestion. Think about the joy of traveling like George Jetson of futuristic cartoon fame inside your very own comfortable flying drone. Is the prospect of a autonomous single-passenger flying drone just over the horizon? Is such technology even possible? Well, according to a splashy announcement at CES from the Chinese company EHang, such a dream may soon be a reality.
According to the international tech company, its 440-pound pilotless vehicle, called the EHang 184, will hit the market at some unspecified date in the near future — with an estimated cost in the range of $300,000 to $400,000.
“After we launch it at CES, the goal is to do the commercialization within three to four months,” EHang CFO Shang Hsaio said.
The idea is extremely futuristic, but again — is it possible? Well, the only hurdles EHang will need to clear include FAA approval, a vast network of air-traffic control monitors, safety measure to avoid existing airline and helicopter traffic, as well as a way to make such a contraption land safely after just 23 minutes in the air. Um…landing safely in 23 minutes is critical since the flying taxi has a battery that lasts only…23 minutes (which is roughly 10 miles). For anyone doing the math, those time and mile limitations wouldn’t make it halfway from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica. Further, since the flying drone will be void of any manual controls, you’d be out of luck if the thing failed mid-flight.
Do you really want hundreds of cars flying in the skies above your house? Would you really travel inside a flying drone that is automated and might only last 23 minutes?
Perhaps that freeway traffic isn’t so bad after all!
.
THANK GOD IT’S VALENTINE’S DAY WEEKEND!
Do you really want hundreds of cars flying in the skies above your house? Would you really travel inside a flying drone that is automated and might only last 23 minutes? [….]
Um…No. ..and No.