eHang Passenger Drone/flying car Conducts Manned Flights

a reply to: anzha

Sign me up! I'll take one...

a reply to: mikell

If you win, PM me: I'll happily build it for ya.

a reply to: anzha

How much are they?. You could charge a few quid for rides in it.

a reply to: testingtesting

Not for sale yet.

You're talking around $100k at least for retail.

That's pretty awesome... Tho the numbers tell a different story.

Long Range Test = 8.8KM @ 130km/hr

Translates to a total flight time of 4 minutes.
Not bad if you need to hop one city block in a city... But bad for everything else.

It'd be cool if in the future this kind of technology became like the new uber, without drivers. Use an app on your phone, request a drone, and wait for it to land outside. Destination already pre programmed in.

I could really see this being useful in more rural areas.

a reply to: underwerks

I reckon that's only a few years off.
Heck 100k? cheap and ï bet you could make some money on one.

a reply to: underwerks

Uber already wants them:

www.theverge.com...

a reply to: Sovaka

I'm sure for the test vehicles you are right. It all depends on the power draw for the motors whether or not its 'easy' for an upgrade. 500 lbs is a fair amount of payload you can chip away at to add more batteries in.

originally posted by: anzha
a reply to: underwerks

Uber already wants them:

www.theverge.com...

Dang it. So much for having an original idea.

a reply to: underwerks

Flying tow trucks. OMG that would help bay area traffic so much.

I'd want one with guards around the ankle choppers, bigger rotors, and a rocket-assisted parachute built into the roof. It should also be waterproof and have a little raft around the bottom to deal with the potential for sea crashes. In addition, the chair should be designed to absorb a crash. And get that ipad holder out, and put avionics in.

1. I love it! Even better than the flying hoverboards (HERE) because I can just chill or nap while being transported.

2. Judging by Sovaka's post, it'll need more flight time/distance. But that will come with time.

3. I'm suspicious of the noise. I don't think it's a coincidence that they replaced the audio w/a studio soundtrack during nearly every flight in the OP's video. I can probably look for test flight videos to get a better idea of that.

These eHangs will go for quite the price.
Probably close to a million at first.

In the picture below, from a conference I was at over the weekend are 3 survey/lidar drones that are being sold for over $100k each.
No extra payload. Just the lidar cam with collision sensors pointed vertical and horizontal.

The thing with drones though, is that they are constantly dropping in price as new tech is unveiled for them...daily.

These 3 will probably be half that price next year because they will be replaced with much new tech.
Every day something new comes out for drones.
Something cheaper, or higher tech, allowing the drone to do more.

a reply to: anzha

Drone taxis is definitely a likely starting point where the public could use it, can see buildings having landing pads on their roofs etc. Did I see a max range of 130 kilometers? Love to have one for my downtown commute everyday. Even a 5% decrease in downtown traffic, could ease traffic on incoming highways.

A potential logistical nightmare if there were multiples heading to same location at the same time. Thats obviously way down the road. But it has multiple potential uses search and rescue, medical emegencies,police,deliveries etc. Interesting times

a reply to: Macenroe82

Here's their official website (HERE). This article (HERE) from Dec 2017 says that they've already received orders for 1,000 of them, the price is $300,000, and that it has 25min of cruising time per charge above sea level.

a reply to: anzha

That's a pretty impressive evolution of the the quad copter. I hope tech like this does spread outside the confines of novelty.

Also, did anyone else notice the flying saucer in the background?

a reply to: enlightenedservant

I was close on the pricing... I should had specified in CDN. So its somewhere around a little under 400k CDN.
Perhaps by the time they go into full production there will be a competitor and the price will drop further?

Edit: On a side note, when did you change your name?

a reply to: Sammamishman

You mean the thing seemingly flying above it in at least one of the shots? I assumed it was just a normal drone w/camcorder functionality, since they had to record the aerial shots somehow.

a reply to: Macenroe82

No worries. I'm surprised it's so "cheap" since it's so awesome lol. I noticed that in their videos, they occasionally show a second version that has twice as many propellers (an octo-copter?). I wouldn't be surprised if that one was closer to half a million dollars each, at least. (Oh & I've never changed my name here.)

a reply to: enlightenedservant

I'm not saying is aliens, but clearly it's aliens.