Self-flying Air Taxi Cora Launched in New Zealand by Google's Founder Larry Page's Kitty Hawk
Are we ready for flying cars?
Google's founder Larry Page's company called Kitty Hawk unveiled an electric, self-flying air taxi recently. It can travel at upto 150 km/h (93mph). The aircraft was developed in New Zealand. It is named as Cora and uses larger electric motor and traditional aircraft-like wings. This amazing invention can do 100 km on a single charge, it takes off and lands vertically. It will eventually be available to customers as a service "similar to an airline or a rideshare" said parent company Kitty Hawk on the Cora website.
On Tuesday, the company officially unveiled a prototype of the aircraft, which showed how the initial flight would look and its global vision. The taxi using self-flying software combined with human oversight. The government of New Zealand has happily welcomed the project because it also benefits the environment. "We've got ambitious goals here in New Zealand, we want to get to net zero emissions by 2050 and that includes mobility," said Dr Megan Woods, minister for research, science and innovation, in a promotional video for the aircraft. Such a kind of aircraft is called the eVTOL - which stands for electric Vertical Take Off and Landing.
Watch the video of the air taxi Cora:
Cora is in the production stage and they haven't yet given a fixed date on which the air taxi will start working. The battery life could be a problem for this planned design. It currently has a shorter range, but then it is beneficial for crowded cities of future. 'A path to certifying an air taxi for everyday use just didn’t exist. We had our aircraft. We had our moment. But there was no place in the world where Cora could take the next step. We had no Kitty Hawk of our own,' the statement released by the company read.
A similar flying taxi was unveiled by Intel at the Consumer Electronics Show 2018. It was called a Volocopter an autonomous drone which can accommodate two persons within. With Cora too being in production and Volocopter flying in a few years, we are surely ready for the future?
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 15, 2018 07:01 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).