First Autonomous, Human-Sized Drone Revealed at CES The EHang184 can carry one passenger for flights up to 23 minutes.
This story originally appeared on Fortune Magazine
Call off all bets, ladies and gentlemen, because the singularity is here. Florida Gyrocopter Man would be so proud.
On Wednesday at the Consumer Electronics Show, Chinese drone manufacturer EHang unveiled the EHang 184, the first fully electric autonomous aerial vehicle capable of carrying one passenger up to 220 pounds over short distances. Travel is controlled mostly by an onboard tablet inside the pod-like cockpit—a passenger selects their flight destination, and then relaxes in the airborne vehicle's air-conditioned cabin as the 184 takes off, flies, and lands on its own.
According to company spokespeople showing off the drone at this year's CES in Las Vegas, 100 successful, manned test flights have already happened in the EHang 184.
The aerial vehicle is certainly something to behold. It's a four-armed, eight-rotor drone, standing 5 feet tall and weighing in at 440 pounds. The drone has gull-wing doors for passengers, and a trunk for luggage. The arms fold up, allowing for easy parking next to your boss's BMW convertible. The EHang 184's battery, which takes between two and four hours to charge, is good enough for a 23-minute flight at a cheetah-like 62 miles per hour.
Naturally, the question of safety in such a vehicle is an open one. With no in-cockpit flying controls for the EHang 184, there's no way the passenger could steer the vehicle should the tablet fail or cellular connection drop off, as Business Insider pointed out. EHang claims a 24-7 flight control center monitors each flight and can intervene in emergency situations.
