Boeing is getting into the small VTOL aircraft game — we can't call them "flying cars" without cringing — and the aerospace giant's first prototype has just made its first test flight this week. Boeing Passenger Air Vehicle (PAV) is a combination of a scaled-up drone and a pusher plane, with multiple horizontal propellers providing vertical flight, while forward flight is accomplished by a single large propeller in the back of the craft. Shortened wings allow the PAV to take advantage of winged flight, so it doesn't have to rely on the horizontally-mounted propellers to stay aloft at speed.
Boeing tested the PAV in autonomous mode, without a pilot, as the electric prototype is designed for fully autonomous flight and has a range of up to 50 miles. Hopefully there is an EV charger at your landing spot 50 miles away.
"The PAV prototype completed a controlled takeoff, hover and landing during the flight, which tested the vehicle's autonomous functions and ground control systems," Boeing said. "Future flights will test forward, wing-borne flight, as well as the transition phase between vertical and forward-flight modes. This transition phase is typically the most significant engineering challenge for any high-speed VTOL aircraft."
Boeing bet on autonomous flight technology in developing the PAV, just like a number of competitors eager to launch the "air taxi" era, eliminating the need for a pilot in a similar way that autonomous cars want to put taxi drivers out of business, or rather achieve a future where taxi drivers are not needed — perhaps a distinction without a difference to some. Boeing envisions an airspace where piloted and autonomous vehicles can coexist, anticipating what it calls the "urban air mobility market."
"Certifiable autonomy is going to make quiet, clean and safe urban air mobility possible," said John Langford, president and chief executive officer of Aurora Flight Sciences.
With its 50-mile range, Boeing's prototype is still more of a technology demonstrator than a production-ready prototype. For one thing, the FAA has yet to allow unpiloted aircraft with passengers aboard sharing airspace with planes and helicopters. And a market for such craft (with these flight distances) has yet to materialize. The last time we checked, 50 miles was not a distance worth covering by air, unless it's a medical helicopter.
So where does Boeing's prototype fit in, when it comes to an actual business plan? The rooftop urban air taxi market — still mostly on the drawing board and in the dreams of Silicon Valley tycoons — is what the investors are telling themselves is just around the corner. You'll be able to ascend to the top of a skyscraper, as several slickly produced CGI videos paint for us, and board one of these craft for a short hop to another landing pad just outside of town, skipping over the hordes of unwashed masses stuck in their cars below. At least that's what Uber Elevate imagines, somewhat dystopically: a different class of travel for the wealthy few, as an update to the golden age of urban helicopter taxis that ended in a grisly and spectacular manner in 1977.
"In one year, we have progressed from a conceptual design to a flying prototype," said Boeing chief technology officer Greg Hyslop. "Boeing's expertise and innovation have been critical in developing aviation as the world's safest and most efficient form of transportation, and we will continue to lead with a safe, innovative and responsible approach to new mobility solutions."
This future is perpetually around the corner, just like fully autonomous cars, but we have a little more faith in private VTOL craft developers like BlackFly, which has demonstrated some prototypes that look plausible and aren't autonomous.
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