AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
CHINA’S DIDI LAUNCHES AUTONOMOUS TAXI SERVICE IN SHANGHAI
China’s Didi Chuxing (DiDi) has intro- duced an on-dem- and autonomous taxi service in a Shang- hai suburb. The test robotaxi service
was
launched following the installation of key Vehicle to Everything (V2X) hardware at main junctions within the area to enable the self-driving vehicles to interact with the surroundings and minimise safety blind spots. Under the service, customers can book a free ride within the
test area. The open- traffic area includes Shanghai’s Automo- bile Exhibition Center, the local business districts, subway stations and hotels in downtown Shanghai. DiDi CTO and autonomous driving unit CEO Bob Zhang Bo said: “We will start with a mixed dispatch model that breaks out current geo-fence limita- tions. “Autonomous driv- ing needs to move beyond being a novel but limited experience to be-
Launched in 2016, the company’s auto- nomous unit em- ploys around 400 people. It holds test- ing licences in California, Beijing, Shanghai
and
come a reliable and efficient daily mobil- ity option for the general public in highly complex real- world environment.” As an on-demand transportation and services platform, DiDi provides more
CHINA BECOMES FIRST COUNTRY TO LAUNCH UNMANNED FLYING TAXI
China has become the first country to introduce an un- manned flying taxi, launched by tech firm Ehang. The new creation has been dubbed EHang 216 and is primarily being launched to circum- vent traffic jams. EHang 216 is pow- ered by 16 electric rotors. They can pro- pel the unit along a pre -de te rmi n ed route at over 80mph. The weight of the aircraft is about 600 pounds and it can carry another 500 to 600 pounds. Initially just tourists will be offered the taxis to make it eas- ier for them to move around the tourist attractions of the south eastern region. EHang has declared
92
than ten billion trips per year in the form of ride-hailing, two- wheelers, auto- mobile solutions, food delivery, couri- er services, and others.
Suzhou in China. Nearly a month ago, DiDi raised more than $500m for its autonomous driving unit. DiDi founder and CEO Cheng Wei said: “AI in trans- portation will no doubt revolutionise safety and efficiency of the urban transit
system. DiDi’s big- gest strengths are in our rich use cases, data capabilities and a strongest long- term commitment to what we believe to be a clear direc- tion of the future. “It will be a long way and takes at least a decade of continued investment, before AV technology pass- es critical tech- nology, business and regulatory mile- stones; but we are determined to tack- le the challenges ahead.”
VOLTAERO CASSIO AIRCRAFT OPTION ON APP-BASED AIR TAXI SERVICE
a partnership with Hezhou City in Guangxi Province to build a terminal for these aerial taxis which will have four pads; two will be for take off and two for landing. By the end of this year, EHang will be able to offer the fly- ing taxi service to the tourists. In three years a complete taxi service will be
made available. Chief Engineer at China’s Civil Avia- tion Administration, Yin Shijun, said: “EHang 216 is a pas- senger-grade auton- omous aerial vehicle different from other unmanned aircraft. We will provide our strong support and help accelerate the commercialisation of this innovative air mobility solution.”
Hybrid-electric air- craft developer Volt- Aero’s impending Cassio aircraft is to be one of the options available to users of an app- based air taxi net- work being devel- oped in the US called KinectAir, according to aero- spacetestinginterna-
tional.com. French firm Volt- Aero, headed up by former Airbus chief technology officer, Jean Botti, is devel- oping the Cassio, which will fly at 200 knot-cruise speeds (360km/h) out to ranges of 1,300km. The aircraft will be available in three versions with four to ten seats and be able to take off and land on runways of less than 550m at both local and regional airports.
The Cassio is using the company’s own h y b r i d - e l e c t r i c power module and is to be built in south- west France. First deliveries of the hybrid are sched- uled in late 2022. Startup KinectAir, which launched ear- lier this year, is developing a short- haul regional air taxi service that uses a fleet of turboprop aircraft including the Cassio. The ser- vice is up and running with Kinect- Air operating as a charter-broker in
Vancouver, Wash- ington, while it applies for Part 135 operator status and develops an Uber- like smartphone app and software. The partnership between the two companies hopes to integrate the Cassio with KinectAir’s short-haul
infras-
tructure, applying AI to balance passen- ger demand with air transport availabili- ty. KinectAir’s soft- ware platform will interface directly with Cassio’s “intelli- gent cockpit”.
AUGUST 2020
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112
