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8 Platform one April/May 2018 | Unmanned Systems Technology Three new autonomous air taxis are being tested around the world, ready for operation in 2018 and 2019 (writes Nick Flaherty). UAV start-up Kitty Hawk has flown its autonomous people-carrying UAV for the first time, while the Vahana system from Airbus has been flight tested as well. Lilium is also planning trials of a five- seater autonomous electric jet in 2019 after recent flight tests. Kitty Hawk’s Cora UAV has 12 rotors providing vertical take-off, and can carry two people over a range of 62 miles (100 km) at a height of 500-3000 ft. One motor provides forward propulsion at up to 110 mph (180 kph). Ewatt Aerospace has demonstrated a quadcopter with four shrouded variable- pitch propellers (writes Rory Jackson). The EWZ-242 features a gas-powered 25 hp proprietary engine that displaces 242 cc with a dedicated fuel injection system. It is said to have an endurance of 2 hours of flight while carrying a 5 kg payload, and is due to be commercially available later this year. “The aircraft is currently undergoing its final flight tests at our r&d office in Italy,” said the company’s Victor Paciura. “You don’t normally see variable-pitch rotors on UAVs, but our research team saw that having them would help stabilise the aircraft during flight, increasing its efficiency.” The EWZ-242 is built to perform long- endurance surveillance mission, but is also capable of lifting up to 20 kg for logistics missions lasting 30 minutes. Its airframe is constructed from aluminium alloy and carbon composite, It includes self-piloting software with lithium-ion batteries powering independent rotors. It also has three independent flight computers that each calculates its location, so that if there is an issue with one flight controller the craft can still operate. Should a number of rotors fail, a parachute is triggered to land the craft safely. Zephyr Airworks is operating Cora, previously called Zee.Aero, in New Zealand for testing, but has not given timescales for availability. It will also not be offered as a consumer product but operated as an autonomous taxi service. Cora has an experimental airworthiness certificate from both the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and the US giving a maximum take-off weight of 60 kg, and it can be operated in manual or fully autonomous modes. “Because of its flight duration and range, it is intended principally to operate autonomously, beyond the operator’s visual line of sight,” said Paciura. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Zephyr is working with the CAA on further certification for a commercial air taxi service in New Zealand. Meanwhile, the Airbus Vahana reached a height of 5 m in a 53 s self-piloted test at the Pendleton UAS Range in Oregon in the US. Lilium’s prototype was tested at the end of 2017 in Munich, Germany, and the company is planning full-scale tests in 2019 that will use three electric jet engines to travel at 300 kph and have a range of 300 km. These will compete with existing UAV air taxis such as the Volocopter and the Ehang 182, both of which have struggled to get permission for test flights. “We’ve had to do a lot of work to devise an autopilot that accounts for the variable-pitch mechanism, the mechanical transmission, fuel injection and so on.” The EWZ-242 will be followed in 2019 by a version with a 100 kg payload. Taxis take to air for tests UAV pitched at endurance Airborne vehicles Airborne vehicles Ewatt chose variable-pitch propellers for its EWZ-242 for stability and efficiency