Exploring air taxis: NASA drones test autonomous flight technology

By testing autonomous flight technology for large passenger air taxis on small drones, we can observe how they avoid each other and other obstacles, which is a safer and more economical approach. We can install software on small drones to perform operations such as airspace communications, flight path management, and avoidance of collisions with other aircraft

NASA said it will launch electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) as a taxi service to and from the airport in the future to reduce carbon emissions and improve passengers’ commuting experience

A flight of a small unmanned aerial system test platform aircraft was conducted over NASA Langley Research Center. During the flight, special approval from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and NASA is required to ensure that the aircraft flies beyond the line of sight of ground observers

Researchers at NASA’s Langley Research Center recently conducted multiple test flights of autonomous drones to study the potential of air taxis. The drones successfully avoided obstacles and other drones autonomously, and flew and landed along predetermined routes without pilot control. According to NASA’s announcement on December 21, local time, this test marks an important step in achieving autonomous flight capabilities for air taxis

An experiment was conducted to observe how small drones avoid each other and other obstacles, as well as to test autonomous flight technology for large passenger air taxis. This method is safer and more economical. "When you have multiple aircraft coming in and out of vertical airports near an airport or deep in a community, we have to make sure the automation technology for those aircraft can safely handle busy areas," said Lou Glaab, director of the Aeronautical Systems Engineering Branch at NASA's Langley Research Center. heavy air traffic." In this test, the drone flew out of sight, and neither the aircraft nor the airspace were monitored using direct human observation.

The software installed on small drones can perform operations such as airspace communications, flight path management and avoidance of other aircraft, while other technologies are also needed to deal with busy airspace. This is essential to realize the vision of "Advanced Air Mobility" (AAM). NASA's Advanced Air Mobility mission works with industry and government partners to study, test and evaluate where future aircraft can take off and land at high frequencies, particularly with regard to air taxis and drones.

The content that needs to be rewritten is as follows: One of the technologies involved in the flight test is NASA's Unmanned System Reliable Operation Integrated Configurable Architecture, which provides automatic detection and avoidance functions. NASA's Safe2Ditch system allows an aircraft to observe the ground and autonomously determine the safest landing site in the event of an emergency during flight. NASA said it will transfer new technologies developed in the project to the public to ensure that industrial manufacturers can use the software when designing aircraft

At the same time, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Ames Research Center collaborated with the American electric aviation company Joby Aviation to develop a new air traffic simulation technology to provide air traffic control data. According to news announced by NASA on December 20, the development of this technology will bring closer the integration of air taxis and other electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) into the busiest airports in the United States. To ensure air taxis and other aircraft can safely transport passengers to and from airports, NASA and its industry partners are working with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to demonstrate how existing tools and airspace procedures can be creatively used to support air taxis operations and ensure their safe integration into the airspace. At the same time, these organizations are also studying potential changes to existing airspace systems to enable larger-scale flights

NASA said that in the future, eVTOL will be used as a taxi service to and from the airport to reduce carbon emissions and improve passengers’ commuting experience. "We're committed to improving quality of life," said Savvy Verma, an urban air mobility researcher at NASA's Ames Research Center. "Some people are stuck in traffic for hours on their way to the airport. 12 miles (approximately 12 miles) (19 kilometers) takes 45 minutes. Imagine reaching the same destination in just 15 minutes."

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