A self-navigating single-seat eVTOLs aircraft will be the personal vehicle of the future

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Road traffic is increasing with the growing population, and it’s only going to get worse. As a result, getting to your destination fast and safely will become increasingly complex, with more and more delays along the way. Hence, people are veering toward the idea of air travel to speed things up and for convenience.

Many new kinds of aircraft – mostly eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft) – have sprung up recently. These new transportation modes are different than airplanes and helicopters that require lots of people and grand infrastructure to be functional. Instead, they’re smaller and designed to accommodate a few people, like taxis, and travel shorter distances, hopping from hub to hub like a bus.

Most likely, eVTOLs are the vehicle of the future. However, their makers are shaping them up to be something we’ll see as a service. They’re not going to be available for people to buy for personal use. But air mobility startup Next UAS hopes to change that. It’s re-opening the conversation on private ownership with this single-seat iFly aircraft concept.

The iFly is a simple coaxial octocopter, with eight batteries running eight props – one on each end of four carbon arms. Two arms are mounted above the cabin and two below. It appears to be around 2 meters (6.6 ft) high and small enough to fit in a wide parking space in front of someone’s house. It features an emergency evacuation parachute in case of an emergency.

Perhaps most interesting is how iFly doesn’t need to be driven or monitored. Instead, the system is autonomous and compatible with a mobile application. All the rider needs to do is input the destination, and the aircraft will take over from there.

Next UAS is in the process of getting a permit for iFly to be flown without a pilot license. It plans to do this by registering it as a powered ultralight by the FAA. Although, this also means that the aircraft will have to weigh under 115 kilograms (254 pounds) and max out at 55 knots (64 mph or 102 km/h). Also, its range would be extremely limited because the FAA counts batteries as part of the airframe and, therefore, the weight restriction. And people won’t be able to fly it over populated areas. So, iFly will only be usable for single-person flights over unpopulated areas to a destination only a few miles away.

Nevertheless, the company has already demonstrated iFly’s flying capabilities with a 1/3 scale prototype and acquired the license to proceed. It’s currently searching for investors to take this project to the next level. A demo video of the Next iFly can be seen here.

A few other single-seat eVTOL designs include WatFly’s Starwars-like aircraft and Cadillac’s jetpack-like aircraft, and the US Airforce’s Hexa. www.intelligentliving.co

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