Source: Public number QbitAI Author: Lai can Leigang If human mobility is fundamentally changed, unmanned vehicles are an option, and aircraft are another better option. And both options are favored by Google founder Larry Page. In 2009, Google’s self-driving car officially started. One year later, the “flying car” project also started to invest money to start. Even more obviously, Page is personally more willing to smash money and funds into cooler flying cars. This is why the startup Kitty Hawk has attracted worldwide attention. However, recently, bad news came: In 2018, the “private aircraft”, which also announced that it would deliver small-scale mass production, announced its halt; as for the more fascinating “air drone” plan, it also ran aground. But the good news is that this may just be the failure of Kitty Hawk and Page. Because at this track, at least Chinese companies are still ambitious, including Geely, Tencent, and Yihang, which just listed on the IPO … all becoming representative players. They have different products. Some are biased towards flying cars, while others are large drones, but all are for short-distance commute, and the prototype products seem to be only “the last mile” away from large-scale commercial use. Why can’t Kitty Hawk keep going? Kitty Hawk stranded mystery Inside information was revealed by Forbes. After interviewing several former employees, Forbes reported that both of Kitty Hawk’s product lines have been “hit hard.” Flyer, a personal aircraft project, has a series of unresolved problems from technology, security, and actual landing, which cannot be delivered. Flyer, the pilot and Kitty Hawk’s first aircraft, has iterated over two versions. The rudimentary version is relatively rude, like a big spider, basically with a wing on a watercraft: Upgraded version, the basic structure has not changed, it looks a lot better: In the words of the CEO, Flyer is a “drones meet aircraft” (a combination of a small aircraft called a drone and an aircraft), which is actually a small watercraft. There are 10 propellers, 4 meters long, 2.3 meters wide and 1.5 meters high. It adopts carbon fiber structure and weighs only 113 kg. Use lithium batteries as energy sources. After the upgrade, the operation becomes very simple and ordinary people can learn it in just one hour. In 2018, the company also invited various media such as WSJ, CNN, Wired to test flight, and the official website is also open for booking. But just a year later, The given delivery period, promise not only to jump tickets, but also major rectification. Kitty Hawk refunds reservation deposits and no longer sells to individuals. The product positioning has also changed from “individual mounts” to “providing operational services”, providing city-to-city point-to-point shared aircraft. Besides the product positioning adjustment, there are even more amazing reasons revealed: A former Kitty Hawk engineer revealed that frequent technical failures require repairs every few hours; battery fires are also a big problem, and even Google has caused fires. In addition to the aircraft’s planned stranding, another major product line, Cora, which is intended to be Uber in the air, will be shut down and transferred directly. It will enter Wisk Aero, a joint venture with Boeing, and Boeing will control the board of directors. This is even more surprising, because when Kitty Hawk first described the blueprint, Core not only had the technology of autonomous driving, but also the blessing of the “sharing economy” concept at the time, which was the one with more commercial potential. Core’s aircraft can take off vertically: Fast landing: Using autonomous driving technology, the range is 62 miles-nearly 100 kilometers, can take two people, faster than a car, save time and runway. Imagine that you only need one hour for 80 kilometers, you do n’t have to stop where you want to go in a straight line, and when and when you want to fly. Kitty Hawk sees it as the prototype of the future “air taxi”, with initial commercialization in New Zealand in 2018. However, the plan cannot keep up with the changes. In June of this year, Core was assigned to a subsidiary of Boeing by Kitty Hawk, and also lost control, which basically means that it can no longer lead the route. Aircraft But interestingly, shortly after the Cora project changes, Kitty Hawk also announced a third aircraft: Heaviside. The official tags are: small, queit, fast Small: Only one adult squatting so high looks almost as big as an ordinary car; Quiet: Takeoff sound is about 80db, less than ten seconds, less than 40db when flying, it is hard to be heard by human ears come out. Fast: San Jose to San Francisco in 15 minutes. It currently takes 50 minutes by car. It’s actually an electric airplane. It’s just the original idea—solving the traffic problem like a driverless car, efficient and safe, but still far away. It’s more like a small private plane, and it has to pass the supervision. It is still far from mass production, commercial use and outbreak. Currently, the Federal Aviation Administration only allows heavside to conduct test flights in the eyes of employees. But Kitty Hawk’s temporary defeat does not mean there is no hope of changing traffic from the air. A lot of players have gathered, and the Chinese power is very dazzling. 2 million yuan to buy a Geely Speedcar In addition to Kitty Hawk’s desire to be an “air taxi”, Uber also plans to expand shared traffic from the ground to the air. They announced UberAir, an air traffic project based on vertical take-off and landing aircraft, with plans to begin commercial operations in 2023. Uber has signed an agreement with NASA, and the two parties intend to cooperate on urban air traffic (UAM). The content of the agreement is that Uber proposes a city air ride sharing network plan. NASA uses airspace management computer modeling and simulation to assess the environmental impact of small aircraft. Uber’s electric airplanes are relatively large and need to build supporting small airports. But it may also use the roof of a high-rise building as an airport: After work, sitting on the plane can enjoy the “beautiful traffic jam” by the way: Lilium, a German company led by Tencent, has conducted two test flights this year. Realized actions such as turning at 20 °: This company expects commercial operation of five-seater aerial taxis by 2025: There are also air traffic from established car manufacturers. Domestic representative Geely Automobile has acquired a flying car company called Terrafugia. This company was originally founded in 2006 by five MIT graduates, focusing on the design and manufacturing of flying cars, and was acquired by Geely in November 2017. At present, there are demos and prototype products. The main transition is a flying car that can accommodate two people. It can run on the ground or fly in the air. Transformation: Take off: Of course, you need to cheer for it: The latest news is “First Order Delivery.” In April 2019, according to foreign media reports, Terrafugia’s flying car Transition has completed its final test and will enter the mass production stage with a price of more than 2 million yuan. Transition The overall “up to heaven” switch in 40 seconds, can fly up to 3 kilometers. The First Unit of Urban Air Traffic Of course, the world’s first share of urban air traffic has also been born. Ehang, which originated in China, is a drone. In the completion of the IPO, the most solemn introduction in the Ehang Prospectus is the Autonomous Aerial Vehicle (AAV), and the urban air traffic business behind it. Introduction of EHang Prospectus: Urban air traffic is a new way of air traffic, using autonomous pilot aircraft (AAV), to provide passenger transportation and logistics transportation applications in the city. And become the fastest-growing main revenue business of EHang in the first three quarters of 2019: Ehang Air started commercialization of urban air traffic business in 2018. In the first three quarters of 2019, the revenue of EHang’s urban air traffic business segment was 48.8 million, compared with only 2.5 million in the same period last year. The prospectus also disclosed that as of December 5, 2019, EHang had completed the commercial delivery of 38 manned autonomous piloted aircraft. But it should also be noted that, even if it sounds full of a sense of the future, EHang is still in a period of operating losses, with revenue of 67.13 million yuan in the first nine months of 2019 and a net loss of 47.84 million yuan. Therefore, further efforts must be made in the commercialization of “urban air traffic”. One More Thing However, if you believe this is the future and want to do something in advance. The “Flying Car Engineer” course is also available now. And the promoter is not someone else, it is Sebastian Tron-he is not only the founder of Google’s self-driving car, but also the core leader of the Kitty Hawk project. The “flying car engineer” training for Tron, the entrepreneur of the inclined bar, was launched in the Uda Academy he founded … Course guidance, Jake Lussier, PhD, Stanford Artificial Intelligence, believes that the key to current technology is to improve security: The technology has reached the most basicRequirements. But in order to expand flying cars to the mass market, we still need to develop technology to create robust and reliable coordination systems. This will require the use of AI, optimization, and systems engineering to ensure maximum security. But questions remain. After all, Kitty Hawk is progressing so well, which makes people less optimistic. I hope that “flying automotive engineers” will not be reduced to “Mongolian naval commanders” in the end. Actually, the name Kitty Hawk also has something to do with “Plain”. This is a place name in North Carolina in the United States, but the special thing is that in 1903, the Wright brothers completed their first successful flight there. Now, a century later, Kitty Hawk has once again brought the future of air traffic into focus. Are you okay? Reference: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2019/12/01/inside-larry-pages-kitty-hawk -returned-deposits-battery-fires-boeing-cora / # 828389d58ab4https: //techcrunch.com/2019/10/03/kitty-hawk-reveals-its-secret-project-heaviside/https: //techcrunch.com/ 2018/03/13 / kitty-hawk-begins-certifying-its-self-flying-taxis-for-service-innewzealand / https: //www.aviationtoday.com / 2019/10/04 / kitty-hawk-reveals-ultra-quiet-heaviside-evtol-design /