Soon you (rich folks) will be able to travel short distances in your personal drone. The first Autonomous Aerial Vehicle (AAV), called Ehang 184 ($TBA), has been revealed and it looks darn promising.
The drone sports four arms and eight propellers that offer enough lifting power to carry one person (no heavier than 220lbs), at speeds of up to 62mph (100km/h). Safety was a major priority when designing this vehicle, so it features a fail safe system that ensures an immediate landing in case any components malfunction or disconnect. To operate, simply type in your destination (using the on-board app), sit back and let the drone do its thing.
Offering a max 23 minutes of flight time per charge (which takes 2-4 hrs), the Ehang 184 should be able to take you on a fun ride to the nearest grocery store and back. That’s not impressive, but we predict performance will improve in a couple of years or so. Just look how fast smaller drones have evolved in such a short period of time. Details in the video
