Yi-Hang, Airbus, and Volocopter are all racing to provide consumers with passenger drones. As an engineer, I am fascinated with the concept, but is it practical? Transportation is a must in our busy society. Traffic jams, stop lights, speed limits, and long commutes chip away from people’s precious time. Any time saving transportation would be beneficial.
Ethan Miller | Getty Images
Flight Time:
If it wasn’t for lithium ion technology, drone technology wouldn’t have progressed as fast as it has. The Ehang drone boast a 23-minute flight time. Not too bad, but what about the return flight? Battery technology would need to improve. The difficulty is not providing enough power to lift people, but having enough power to sustain flight for extended periods of time. Eventually, power density will improve as the battery industry demands drive technological advancements.
Acceptance:
Ultimately, it is up to the public to get over the fear of using a new technology that could result in death if failure occurs. Only 5 percent of US adults surveyed said they would feel safe in a drone.
Failsafe:
Airplanes have the inherent ability to glide even if the engines fail. Helicopters can glide when they lose engine power by a method called autorotation which can allow the helicopter to keep the rotors spinning during decent allowing the helicopter to glide. Drones don’t have any inherent glide capabilities. The failsafe is redundant thrust motors and redundant battery packs. If a motor or circuit were to fail, computers would initiate an emergency landing procedure.
Piloting:
Airplanes and helicopters require highly trained pilots to fly. Drones however rely on computers to balance many thrust motors to control elevation, speed, pitch, roll, yaw, etc. Even if a drone had a manual control, flight couldn’t be accomplished without computers.
I would love to be on board the TEST flight. I am adventurous when it comes to flying and love that feeling of floating in air while looking down to see everything so small from up above. Resteem.
Wow I would DEFINITELY go in this drone. I think it's a bit scary but a crazy experience. Hopefully this technology will be available to the public in the near future and won't take years to come out. I doubt it though... what do you think?? Looking forward to more of your post upvoted and followed! If you get the chance please check my blog out I think you will enjoy it!
I think the question posed is would you prefer to go on the drone OR get sprayed by the skunk again? I enjoyed reading your article about you and your dad in the wild.
You are brave. I think I would try it, but only after it has proven itself for a while.
@Senseicat is an adrenaline crazy junkie! I won't put my balls on a TEST drone guys,I got a lot more to achieve still. If i am really seeking that thrill,I'd bend over backwards, kiss my ass good bye,call my fam and give em all my crypto private keys. Then helmet and buckle in the drone.
I'd prefer a self driving car over a drone.
Good point. A self driving car will give me a better sense of safety and I could spend that time on the road to do other things.
Keren sekali.
Amazing! I'd definitely love to be a passenger as long as it has hundreds of test flights with and experienced command center. Thanks for the info @socky.
A few more safety tests and then we would try a 5-10 mins test drive, less if someone else had been on before as they wouldn't have charged the batteries. Also, throw in a couple of parachutes for safe measure. ;)
Owh hell yeaa! I'd be on a light meal before the flight but hell yea! Love the endorphins rush way too much. Jump off a plane?bungee jump? yes sir and yes some more :) I would love the ride in a drone.
I can hardly wait. Since drone was released, I waited quite a lot until the current technology was made. I think the drones are very safe. It is expected in various fields.