IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 55

chart Source: ehaNG. illuStratioNS: FroM top: airBuS; terraFuGia (2)

ehang air taXi's
Quick trip
The maximum
flight time for the
ehang 184 is just
23 minutes.

biz lingo!-is also talking
about making a model
that's autonomous.
When so many new
startups are pursuing the
same goal, it's tempting
to think there must be
something there. But
hope springs eternal in
tech land, and so does the
propensity to promise big.
All these companies have
proven tight-lipped (not
one returned inquiries
from IEEE Spectrum),
which suggests that there
might be less here than
meets the eye.
Spectrum reported on
Terrafugia, the one company that has a real history, back in 2007, in our
January special issue.
We called the company
a "loser" for describing
a flying car it said it was
about to bring to market.
It didn't happen.
"It can be done-we could
be flying around in pilotless planes, just as we
could be living on cities on
Mars-but is it worth the
cost and the effort?" asks
Patrick Smith, author of
the Ask the Pilot column,
which ran for years in
Salon magazine. "I fly
airplanes for a living, and
my jaw drops when I hear
people say that flying is
already mostly automated.
Even the most 'automated'
flight is still subject to so
much human input and
subjective decisions."
So why then are all
these startups starting
up? "It'd be a novelty, not
necessarily meant even
for profit, but as a way to

23
Mins.

prove and build the technology," Smith suggests.
And should one of these
outfits ever offer seats to
the paying public, would
you entrust your life to
a robotic pilot? "People
want a pilot in the cockpit,
to know there's someone
in charge who shares
their fate," says Missy
Cummings, a former U.S.
Navy fighter pilot, now a
professor of mechanical
engineering and materials
science at Duke University.
"I don't think we'll ever
have a passenger airliner
be a drone-there will
always be some version
of a Captain James T. Kirk
on board." But, she adds,
things are different for
hops of, say, 50 miles
(80 kilometers), where
for some people, at
least, convenience might
outweigh fear.
"It's technologically
achievable in the near
term; as for the regulatory
problem, I think we'll
see it in China first,"
Cummings says. "Ehang
[in Guangzhou, China]
is supposedly doing a test
in March."
The company claims
that its roboplane has
already carried a passenger, and if it performs the
feat in public, we'll let you
know. And if it doesn't.
-PhiliP e. ross
look, Ma-no pilot:
by dispensing with the pilot,
short-hop electric air taxis
would save money and restore
the thrill to air travel. here are
artist's impressions of a3's
Vahana [top] and Terrafugia's
Tf-X [middle and bottom].
SPectrUm.ieee.orG

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55



http://SPectrUm.ieee.orG

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum January, 2017

IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - Cover1
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - Cover2
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 1
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 2
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 3
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 4
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 5
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 6
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 7
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 8
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 9
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 10
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 11
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IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 13
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 14
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 15
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 16
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 17
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 18
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 19
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 20
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 21
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 22
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 23
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 24
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IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 26
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 27
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 28
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 29
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 30
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 31
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 32
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 33
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IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 35
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 36
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 37
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IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 40
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 41
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 42
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 43
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 44
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 45
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 46
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 47
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 48
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 49
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 50
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 51
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 52
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 53
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 54
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 55
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 56
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 57
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 58
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 59
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 60
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 61
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 62
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 63
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - 64
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - Cover3
IEEE Spectrum January, 2017 - Cover4
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_1117
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_1017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0917
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0817
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0212
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0112
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_1111
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_1011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0911
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0811
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0711
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0611
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0511
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0411
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0311
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0211
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0111
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_1210
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_1110
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_1010
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0910
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0810
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0710
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0610
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0510
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0410
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0310
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_0110
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/spectrum_na_1209
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