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Airbus shares a glimpse of its flying taxi interior
Airbus has been working on its Vahana project for years. It's an attempt to create an autonomous passenger drone network that could operate like a flying version of the Waymo's self-driving cars. In January 2018, the company's flying taxi took to the skies for the first time. Now we're getting a glimpse of what the interior might look like. In a blog post, the Airbus Vahana team shared photos of Alpha Two -- its first demonstrator with a finished interior.
Watch Airbus' drone taxi take to the skies for the first time
Back in late January, Airbus' Vahana team successfully flew their autonomous air taxi for the first time. Now, you can finally watch how the drone stayed in the air on its own in the video below the fold. It shows the aircraft hovering around 16 feet above the ground for a few seconds -- not particularly exciting if you're not enthused about the possibility of traveling aboard a single-passenger self-piloted taxi. But it was still a 53-second flight all on its own, without the input of a human operator.
Airbus' drone taxi takes to the skies for the first time
When Airbus first announced its plans to develop a self-flying taxi, it sounded like a fever dream of a sci-fi fan. Now, the aerospace giant has proven that it wasn't joking: Airbus' Vahana team have successfully flown their autonomous air taxi dubbed "Alpha One" for the first time. Sure, it only reached an altitude of 16 feet and remained in the air for 53 seconds before descending, but it did so while fully self-piloted. The team conducted another test flight the day after, and by the sound of things, that one also went well.
Airbus is ready to test its self-flying taxi
We've covered Airbus's Vahana project, which is the aeronautical company's endeavor to build a self-flying taxi network, in detail before. Now, it looks as though Airbus has reached a major milestone. The company is ready to test its Vahana flying car after moving it from the company's headquarters to a dedicated hangar in Pendleton, Oregon, as the Vahana team details in a blog post.
