Priced at a hefty $336K, the EHang 216 passenger drone is now ready for production, as it successfully completed its first driverless test flight above the pitch at Vienna’s Generali Arena. Practical uses for this air taxi include short-haul services for passengers, industrial equipment and urgent medical deliveries. It can seat up to two adults with a maximum weight capacity of 750 pounds and can fly up to 90 mph for ‘almost half an hour’. Read more for another video and additional information.
Just in case you haven’t seen Gravity Industries’ now patented Jet Suit, the company has just released a new video showing three of them zipping around a lake course, giving us a preview of what the future racing series could be like. Want one of these jet suits to play around with yourself? It’ll set you back £340,000, or $452,000 USD at the current exchange rate. The suit consists of five small kerosene-fueled turbine engines — two worn on each arm and one on the back – that produces more than 1,000 horsepower. Read more for a video of a jet suit landing on multiple helicopters.
Photo credit: Justin Hirvi | Bonzu / MUJI via Design Boom
Japanese retail company MUJI partnered with Finnish technology company Sensible 4 to create “GACHA,” an autonomous shuttle bus that can operate in all weather conditions. It’s set to launch in Finland later this spring, starting in the city of Espoo with the eventual goal of expanding to Helsinki, Vantaa, and other large cities later by the end of 2019. Read more for a video, additional pictures and information.
When it comes to automobile accidents, emergency vehicles can not always easily reach the actual site, whether it be due to traffic or other unforeseen circumstances. Median AMB aims to solve that issue with a monorail-like design that slides right down a road’s median / center divider. Once it reaches the collision, a sliding door opens where response teams can aid those in need. Read more for another picture and additional information.
Bicycle startup VanMoof was losing quite a bit of money on its $3,000 bikes that were being damaged during transit, so they decided to start shipping them in fake TV boxes. “We asked ourselves, what do Americans really love? What would prompt couriers to be delicate with a parcel? That’s when we thought of a flat screen TV, because our box is the same size and shape as that of a really huge TV,” said Taco Carlier, VanMoof’s co-founder to CNNMoney. Read more for a video, additional pictures and information.
Priced at $250K, the Royal Version 001 by Jet Capsule is what happens when you combine a spaceship with a luxurious watercraft. It’s fully customizable, measures 27ft long, (3.6m) wide, and is able to comfortably seat eight to twelve passengers as well as a captain. Or, if your journey is in treacherous waters, you can opt for an armored version, complete with a rooftop bunker and bulletproof glass. A high-end model can be equipped with Yanmar diesel engines that come with a range of power from 370 hp up to 1040 hp, paired with a Hamilton jet drives that enables the pod to achieve speeds from 32 knots up to 62 knots (71 mph). Read more for a video, additional pictures and information.
Uber is using CES 2019 to showcase its vision for a future of on-demand air travel, and it plans to roll out air taxis, which appear to be a cross between a helicopter and a giant drone, by 2023. Designed by Textron’s Bell division, the Bell Nexus is powered by a hybrid-electric propulsion system in a bid for more efficient air travel. The Uber Air service will begin in the Dallas-Fort Worth area as well as Los Angeles in about four years, with an international market that has yet to be announced. Read more for another video from the CES 2019 show floor, pictures and additional information.
In case of a zombie apocalypse, or just any natural disaster, you’ll want to be in a 2019 Earth Roamer XV-LTS expedition vehicle, which is built on a four-wheel drive, turbo diesel, Ford F-550 chassis, powered by a 6.7L turbo diesel V8 engine. The camper is a one-piece molded design with no seams to leak or fail structurally, thus creating a stronger and more reliable living space. It uses non-polluting solar power and a large battery bank to power highly efficient appliances and lighting. Read more for a detailed video tour, additional pictures and information.
Elon Musk has officially unveiled The Boring Company’s first underground transportation tunnel, and invited guests to take some of the first rides ever on the tech entrepreneur’s solution to “soul-destroying traffic.” They boarded Musk’s Tesla Model S and were driven on Los Angeles-area surface streets about a mile away to what’s known as O’Leary Station, which sits smack dab in the middle of a residential neighborhood. The tunnel system consists of a wall-less elevator that lowers the car down a wide shaft, roughly 30 feet below the surface. Read more for the full drive through video and additional information.
It can be quite dangerous for manned crews to inspect a damaged building after an earthquake or fire, and that’s exactly why researchers from the Robotics and Perception Group at the University of Zurich and the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at EPFL created a new kind of drone for the task. This innovative new design was inspired by birds that fold their wings in mid-air to cross narrow passages, and this drone can morph itself to fit through narrow gaps and then go back to its previous shape, all the while continuing to fly. Best of all, the drone can still hold and transport objects along the way. Read more for the video and additional information.