World's first automated passenger Drone.(Ehang 184)

Have you ever heard of automated passenger drone ?

We’re going to discuss about the first ever automated passenger drone Ehang 184. This seemed like a pretty interesting topic so, I decided to discuss a little bit here.

Recently it's becoming fairly obvious that drones and specifically the quadcopter industry is blowing up. But so far consumer applications have been largely limited to hobbyist flying, racing and filming.

This all changed at CES 2016 when a Chinese manufacturer Ehang has unveiled the world's first automated passenger drone.

The Ehang 184 is a fully electric aircraft that might sound a little strange at first. But electric aircraft are indeed on the way. In fact, Airbus just created the first electric planes across the English Channel in a late 2015 experiment.

The Ehang 184 is 5.5 meters long and it takes two hours to charge and can fly for 23 minutes at about 500 meters off the ground.

It has a maximum altitude of 3.5 kilometres and a top speed of 101 km/h and a fun fact the flight destination interface is actually a Microsoft Surface tablet.

So where did this drone come from ? The project was started in 2011 when Ehang’s young CEO lost his good friend in a private plane accident and then later his helicopter teacher.

From then on Ehang founder who wanted to make sure that this new aircraft he was going to make was going to be incredibly safe. So back to the Ehang 184, automation is a great fit for this application because it cuts out pilot error.      

Planes much more complicated than this drone are flown by computer-controlled systems.

So this isn't unusual at all.

The company states that the navigation process is backed up by a 24/7 real-time flight command centre and they think that that means passengers have no need for a pilot's license.

The downside though is that Ehung's case there are no manual controls to take over in the event of an emergency.

So, there's a few remaining questions that should be asked

Does the drain have multiple redundant systems ? i.e. If one mission critical element fails does the craft keep aloft easily.

For example, if one propeller is damaged can it be flown automatically with ease. I'd expect this to be the case but there's no confirmation.

 If an object unexpectedly comes in front of the drone how will it react. I guess we've really seen some progress in that field by Intel and their drone.

So, I guess we can say basic flying and evasive action might not be the issue. But the real issue could be if there's an event that causes input data that confuses the computer. I think that's the most dangerous thing in this situation. 

But according to Ehang, the drone has been tested hundreds of times over forests sometimes with passengers. But with these things, I guess you can never be too careful.  

So, the big question

Is this the future of personal transport? For me personally I think the short answer is No, not for this vehicle anyway.

The reason for me telling No is because the range is too short, the battery life is a major bottleneck and there's no way of resuming manual control in the event of an emergency and I don't think that this aircraft would pass FAA regulations anyway.

But that is by no means the full story. I think a craft like this has potential for emergency respondents aid and can be very beneficial in situations where road access is limited.

But to further this without going into semantics, the formula that Ehang has here seems to be correct and if it's not these guys it will be some another company that builds on the synergy of a computer-guided and easy-to-use passenger drone to create something compelling.

It may be many years before that happens. But to me Ehang is the start of something.

So, the bigger question

Is this the template for the personal flying car that we've all been promised all our lives?

I guess only time will tell and wish these guys the best and I watch this space closely.

Thanks for reading this article.