Startup Kitty Hawk demonstrated a single-seat aircraft with a range of 160 km. (3 photos + video)

Competition between drone developersflying taxi is gaining momentum. Some experts quite reasonably believe that air taxi will be put into commercial operation even earlier than autopilot cars. Such a statement is not meaningless, given the promises of the developers of the German Volocopter, supported by Daimler, Intel and Geely, to launch the first commercial air taxi before 2021. Kitty Hawk startup, sponsored by Google’s co-founder Larry Page, sets a similar time frame.

Kitty Hawk developers in early Octoberdemonstrated the third model of the Heaviside Individual Aircraft (HVSD), which took two years to develop. Kitty Hawk engineers did not present a prototype, but a full-fledged model that has been undergoing flight tests for about a year.

Describing their invention, Kitty engineersHawk succinctly declare: "Fast, compact, quiet." The presented sample flies with a hundred times less noise than traditional helicopters. The road from San Jose to San Francisco, with a length of 50 km, takes only 15 minutes, and the energy required for this path requires half as much as a car. Also, experts who saw the real Heaviside model claim that it is three times smaller than a Cessna two-seater.

In the presented model of the Heaviside convertiplaneelectric motors are installed, allowing vertical take-off and landing. The vehicle is also capable of freezing in space.

Heaviside uses the original designplacing 8 engines - 3 on the wings and one on the head console plumage. Three-blade engines have a rotary design that allows them to rotate 90 degrees in space, which ensures the creation of vertical thrust necessary for takeoff, hovering and landing.

The Heaviside aircraft has a main wingspan of 6.1 meters, a top speed of 250 km / h and a flight radius of 160 km. Automatic control and manual flight are available.

One of the main advantages of Heaviside ismobility, allowing you to land and take off on virtually any surface, as well as low noise. As noted in the video, it is indicated that a helicopter hovering at an altitude of 500 meters produces 80 dBA sounds, while the Heaviside emits 38 dBA sound at horizontal flight at cruising speed. During take-off of the Heaviside, the noise level rises to 80 dBA, while the level of the helicopter is 110 dBA.

Deadlines for launching a new mode of transport are notare reported. Previous models from the Kitty Hawk startup were tested earlier: the single-seat quadcopter Kitty Hawk Flyer and the twin-seat aircraft Kitty Hawk Cora. In 2019, the startup signed a partnership agreement with Boeing to develop unmanned aerial vehicles.

Source: techcrunch