Airbus releases video of unmanned flying taxi flight
Toulouse-based aircraft giant Airbus has unveiled the first images of its new unmanned, flying taxi project, in a video showing the model鈥檚 maiden flight.
Dubbed the Vahana Aero project, the taxi is self-piloting and powered by electricity.
The current prototype, named AlphaOne, successfully completed its first 53-second-long test flight in Pendleton, Oregon, USA, at the end of January.
Now, a video of that flight has been released by Zach Lovering, head of Vahana Aero.
It also features some behind-the-scenes footage of the aircraft鈥檚 creation, and is intended to 鈥渃elebrate all the hard work鈥� of the 鈥渢eam behind this project, and the elegance of the aircraft itself鈥�, .
鈥淒uring our minute-long flight, the primary battery system used about 8% of its total energy, demonstrating that the vehicle is capable of much more,鈥� Lovering added.
The project originally began in January 2016, and has been created by development agency A3 (鈥淎 Cubed鈥�), the innovation division that Airbus has installed in its California offices.
Airbus, best-known for its commercial jets such as the A320 and the 鈥渄ouble-decker鈥� A380, has its headquarters and head office in Toulouse, near the Toulouse-Blagnac airport, as well as divisions in Paris and abroad.
In addition to commercial planes, the global company also researches and manufactures aircraft across the military, defence and space sectors.
