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Testing the Cora electric air taxi in New Zealand, drone research at Ford, package delivery in the UK and in the U.S., UAS traffic management in Switzerland and in the U.S.
The Cora electric air taxi in-flight in New Zealand. Credit: Richard Lord, via Kitty Hawk.
UAV News
Larry Page’s Flying Taxis, Now Exiting Stealth Mode
The Kitty Hawk company calls Cora “your first step towards everyday flight.” Financed by Google co-founder and Alphabet CEO Larry Page, Kitty Hawk’s operator in New Zealand Zephyr Airworks has been testing an electric, self-piloting flying taxi. The plan is for a commercial network of flying taxis in New Zealand in as soon as three years.
New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern said the decision to work with Kitty Hawk was “about sending the message to the world that our doors are open for people with great ideas who want to turn them into reality.” She added, “We’ve got an ambitious target in New Zealand of being net carbon zero by 2050,” and given that the Kitty Hawk vehicle is fully electric, “exciting projects like this are part of how we make that happen.”
Meet Cora
Why a Car Company Is Looking to the Skies: A Glimpse into Ford’s Drone Research
Ford was “…intrigued by the relationship between our vehicles and drones and how we might serve our customers in the future, so we embarked on a mission to find out more.” Ford participated in the FAA Unmanned Aircraft Systems Symposium and they say they are the only automaker on the FAA’s Aviation Rulemaking Committee.
Ford has recommended a way to identify and track drones during flight. The idea is to use the drones anti-collision lights to broadcast the 10-digit registration code as an ASCII-encoded binary signal. The lights would be interpreted by a camera-based software app. See the whitepaper titled, “A Zero-Cost Solution for Remote Identification and Tracking of sUAS in Low Altitude Flights.” [PDF]
The U.K. Might Rid Itself of Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight Drone Regulations
The National Air Traffic Control Service (NATS) in the U.K. intends to eliminate the beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) regulations that are holding up package delivery by drone. Deliveries in the UK could begin as early as next year.
Drone Deliveries Really Are Coming Soon, Officials Say
Under the Trump administration’s “Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot program,” 149 companies have filed applications with the FAA to provide package delivery by drone. At least 10 of them should get approval in May. According to The Wall Street Journal, a senior FAA air-traffic control official at the symposium, Jay Merkle, stated that companies like Amazon “think they might be ready to operate this summer.”
Skyguide & AirMap Join Forces to Develop Europe’s First National Drone Traffic Management System
Skyguide and AirMap have partnered to develop and deploy the first national drone traffic management system in Europe. Skyguide is a Swiss air navigation service provider and AirMap provides an airspace management platform for drones. Powered by the AirMap UTM platform, U-space provides dynamic geofencing, instant digital airspace authorization, and solutions for situational awareness. senseFly is the manufacturing partner.
Amazon, Boeing, GE and Google to develop private Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) system
Amazon, Boeing, GE, and Google announced that they are developing a private Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM) system for drones. Testing in conjunction with NASA is supposed to start in the next three months.