‘It’s cool and it’s real’: More than 100 successful test flights of robo air taxi over Oregon
BY Tom Banse
OCT 09, 2019 at 10:59 AM Northwest News Network
A drone air taxi designed by Airbus has successfully completed 114 test flights in Pacific Northwest skies.
Airbus, along with its rival Boeing and many others, is striving to make flying cars an option for your urban commute. The enthusiasm around the test flight hangar in Pendleton, Oregon, has to be leavened, though. Industry insiders said the technology is running years ahead of regulators and public acceptance.
You can imagine living life like the Jetsons cartoon family when you stand next to Airbus’ electric, single-seat passenger drone.
“It’s cool and it’s real,” said the head of flight testing, Matt Deal, as curious attendees from a regional drone industry conference admired the futuristic prototype in a hangar at the Pendleton airport.
“No crashes, no nothing. It’s been great so far,” Deal told public radio. “Over 100 takeoffs and landings, all self-piloted. So there is no pilot either on the ground or in the vehicle. From the very beginning, we were all autonomous.”
Flight testing continues in…