Unmanned Vehicles

The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) reiterated the need for unmanned aircraft systems (UAS/drones) to be safely and carefully integrated into the national airspace system (NAS) in comments filed on an Amazon Prime Air petition on Wednesday. The petition, which was filed in early August, asks for exemptions that would allow the company to conduct commercial […]

Bell’s Autonomous Pod Transport (APT) 70 unmanned aircraft system (UAS/drone) successfully completed its first autonomous flight on Monday at the company’s testing site near Fort Worth, Texas. Bell says it intends to continue testing the APT 70 under an experimental type certificate for the rest of 2019 with the goal of holding a simulated commercial […]

Airbus Aerial has received a waiver from the FAA to conduct urban unmanned aircraft systems (UAS/drone) flight operations beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) and without requiring a visual observer in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The flights will be conducted under the North Dakota Department of Transportation’s UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP), an FAA-sponsored public-private […]

The Air Force has flown a Cessna 206 with a robotic pilot it says can essentially turn an aircraft into a drone and then get turned back into a manned aircraft. The ROBOpilot flew a two-hour autonomous test flight at Utah’s Dugway Proving Ground Aug. 9 handling the takeoff, flight maneuvers and landing without human […]

In partnership with drone software management company Kittyhawk, the FAA has relaunched its B4UFLY mobile app for drone pilots. According to the FAA, B4UFLY was designed as a situational awareness tool for recreational drone users to help them figure out where they can and cannot fly in the national airspace system (NAS). The updated app […]

Drone manufacturer DJI introduced a data solution for its unmanned aircraft systems (UAS/drones) designed for use by government agencies in high-security situations on Monday. The company says the DJI Government Edition “ensures that drone data—including photos and videos captured during flight—never leave the drone and therefore can never be shared with unauthorized parties including DJI.” […]

Wait. What? These things aren’t flying cars. They just aren’t. Or are they? This is the little argument I had with myself yesterday while covering the Uber Elevate Summit in Washington, D.C., via remote streaming. During his introduction, Nikhil Goel, Uber’s head of product for Elevate, referred to these new air taxis as flying cars. […]

Uber is betting big that data it’s collecting from its ground-based ride-hailing app will drive the emerging urban air taxi market, but while we’re waiting for the aircraft, beginning this summer, UberCopter will launch in limited round-trip service between downtown Manhattan and JFK Airport. The service will be provided by Part 135-operator HeliFlite using conventional […]

Drone maker DJI says it will provide ADS-B In as a standard feature on all of its drones weighing a half-pound or more beginning in 2020. Sensitive to public fears about the risk small drones represent to commercial and private aircraft, DJI is trying to get ahead of the curve with de-confliction technology and a […]

An apparently well-funded Massachusetts startup says it will develop a “flying car” hexacopter powered by a hydrogen fuel cell that will carry five people 400 miles. Alaka’i’s Skai says it picked fuel cells as an energy source because they’re much more energy dense and long-lasting than any batteries developed so far. The effort is backed […]