In the middle of the last century, fascinated by the advances in aviation, science fiction writers envisioned a future in which people would fly thanks to jetpacks. The idea ended up in the attic of unfulfilled tech prophecies.
But flying from home to work every day may be closer than it seems. Not with a backpack on your back, but on a drone. That is the project of EHang Inc, a Chinese company that has been developing an autonomous aerial vehicle capable of transporting a person for years. Several rotors – instead of just one as in helicopters – lift the aircraft and keep it stable even in strong winds. The EHang Inc prototype, electric and not much bigger than a Smart car, travels at a maximum of 100 km / h at a maximum height of 500 meters and its autonomy lasts for twenty-five minutes of flight (it recharges in one hour).
Its sensors and processor adjust the route to avoid obstacles and, in the event of a failure, gently and safely land the aircraft. The user will be able to request one of these drones just like today requesting an Uber car , through an app, and all they have to do is specify the address they want to go to. The roofs of buildings and helipads on the outskirts of large cities could serve as passenger pick-up points.
The idea is being explored by other companies such as Airbus and the aforementioned Uber; The directors of the latter think that in the not too distant future they will be able to offer air vehicles as an alternative to road transport for medium distances, covering the arrival at the final destination with a conventional car. Hu Huazhi, founder of EHang Inc, believes that at first this type of transport will only be practical for very specific cases and will have a high cost, but that over time it could be democratized.
“My vision is that in the future anyone can use a drone to travel,” he says. His company has already accumulated more than a thousand flight hours in tests and hopes to offer the service in Dubai and Las Vegas.
