Vahana, the vehicle steering autonomous aircraft made its first flight

Airbus (Supplied by WENN)

AFP

Friday, February 2, 2018 09:16

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Friday, February 2, 2018 09:16

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Paris | Vahana, the vehicle steering autonomous vertical take-off of A≥, the center of innovation at Airbus based in the Silicon Valley, has made its first flight Wednesday in Oregon, in the United States, announced the company on Friday.

“Today, we celebrate a great achievement in innovation in aeronautics,” said Zach Lovering, the project manager at Vahana within A≥ (read cube).

“In less than two years, Vahana has brought a concept drawn on a tablecloth in an aircraft at full-scale, piloted autonomously, which made its first flight,” he added.

The theft took place at 8h52 local and lasted for 53 seconds to Pendleton UAS Range, a site dedicated to studies on the drone, located on the west coast of the United States. The aircraft is high up to 5 meters and then landed safely, said Airbus, the european group, whose world headquarters is based in France.

“The first flight was entirely controlled independently and the vehicle has made a second flight the next day,” said the aircraft manufacturer.

Vahana is an aircraft vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL, vertical take-off and landing) autonomous, able to fly only in an autonomous manner and could carry passengers or cargo. A≥ launched the program in 2016.

Between drone, helicopter and vehicle, Vahana is equipped with a cell capable of handling persons or goods, steals, thanks to its eight rotors with propellers and has skids for landing on the ground.

“Vahana aims to democratize the flight staff and to meet the growing need for urban mobility leveraging the latest technologies in the field of electric propulsion, energy storage and vision,” said Airbus.

This first flight “shows that we are able to develop a significant innovation in a project schedule is aggressive in order to provide a true competitive advantage for Airbus,” said Rodin Lyasoff, the executive chairman of A≥ and former head of project Vahana.

Other tests must be performed, in order to demonstrate the capabilities of displacement and rotation.