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Volocopter 2X Autonomous Aerial Taxi

Oct 2, 2017

3 min read

Updated: Aug 16

By Garth Calitz

The world of city travel seems to be in for some massive changes very soon, and Dubai officials say they want theirs to become the world’s smartest city. A project certain to help reach that goal is developing a fleet of autonomous vehicles to handle a quarter of all passenger transport by 2030.

Ignoring critics who scoffed at the claim earlier this year that the German-designed Volocopter 2X, recently renamed the Autonomous Aerial Taxi (AAT), would begin testing a two-place vehicle in Dubai this year, the government of that Middle Eastern city released a video shot during the first flight of the electric aircraft.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZiJcQN5NRM

Dubai’s Crown Prince, HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, attended a brief, passenger-free flight near Jumeirah Beach Park. This successful flight initiated a testing phase anticipated to last an additional five years before the regular AAT service is projected to commence.

The testing period in Dubai will also allow time to develop laws and policies governing certification of the aircraft and AAT operations, defining aerial routes and corridors, and designing and locating take-off and landing points. Standards for official operators of AAT services in Dubai will also be created, as will identifying the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders, while specifying security and safety standards for the service.

The Volocopter tested in Dubai was equipped with 18 separate rotors, providing a 30-minute flight range at 60 mph without needing a battery recharge. A spokesperson for Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority mentioned that the "AAT also includes optional emergency parachutes, nine independent battery systems, and a quick-charge and plug-in battery system. In the prototype version, it takes two hours to fully charge, but this time will be significantly reduced in the production model."

For the first time in history, more people reside in urban areas than in rural ones. Simultaneously, there's a growing desire for increased mobility. This trend is pushing current mobility models to their limits, and even autonomous vehicles cannot fully meet the ever-increasing demand for transport solutions. Future mobility must therefore explore new avenues to find solutions. The Volocopter is one such solution. With its own hubs, it links key intersections such as airports or business parks with city centers. Autonomous Volocopters, departing every minute, alleviate congestion in areas like bridges, tunnels, ring roads, or feeder roads and are more cost-effective to operate than traditional aerial mobility options.

TECHNICAL FEATURES

General

Classification: VTOL (vertical take-off and landing); rotary-wing aircraft

Certification: Light sport multi-copter; German ultralight (UL)

Power type: Electric/batteries

Passenger capacity: 2 pax

Performance

Max take-off mass (MTOM)450 kg

Max. payload: 160 kg

Operating weight empty (OWE);290 kg

Max. range (@ MTOM)1: 27 km (17 mi) at an optimal ́range ́ cruise speed of 70 km/h (43 mph)

Max. flight time (@ MTOM)1: 27 min at an optimal ́flight time ́ cruise speed of 50 km/h (31 mph)

Max. airspeed (limited time): 100 km/h

Rate of climb (@ MTOM): 3 m/s

Rate of descent: 2,5 m/s

Altitude (service ceiling): ≥ 2.000 m AMSL

Altitude (hovering): ≥ 1.650 m AMSL

Noise level: 65 dB(A) at 75 m

Safety & redundancy concept: Full aircraft emergency parachute- Multiple redundancies in all critical components such as propellers, motors, power source, electronics, flight control, displays - Highly reliable communication network between devices through meshed polymer optic fibre network (fly-by-light)

Structures

Composition/structure: Fibre composites; lightweight construction

Overall height: 2,15 m

Rotor plane: 6 hub-arms; 1 holm and 3 engine heads per hub-arm

Diameter of the rotor rim incl. propellers: 9,15 m

Diameter of the rotor rim excl. propellers: 7,35 m

Diameter of a single propeller: 1,80 m

Cockpit: 3,20 m length / 1,25 m width / 1,21 m height

Skids: 3,02 m lenght / 2,06 m width

Powertrain

a) Power supply & battery

Number of battery packs: 9 independent battery systems with quick release