Photo: Kitty Hawk
A few years ago, the idea of car sharing was just taking shape. It didn’t take long though for it to turn into an industry that is now worth billions. Presently, the same thing seems to happen to passenger drones and what is shaping up to be the next El Dorado of mobility.
Big names like NASA, Boeing and Airbus are already in on it, but it’s the little companies that seem to be the driving force behind the push to take urban transportation to the skies.
Among the many such small companies is Kitty Hawk, an entity backed by Larry Page, one of the guys that gave birth to the phenomenon that is now Google. For some time, Kitty Hawk has been researching this alternative means of transportation on its own.
No more, as this week Boeing, itself a company interested in selling passenger drones in the same quantities cars are being sold today, announced the signing of a deal that would push both of their research forward.
The exact details of the agreement were not announced, and Boeing only used vague terms like “a strategic partnership to collaborate on future efforts to advance safe urban air mobility.” There’s no official word on whether the two will actually build something together.
But they probably will.
Kitty Hawk already has two vehicles in its portfolio, the Cora and the Flyer. The former is a flying taxi that can take off and land like a helicopter (and as Kitty Hawk hints, the object of the collaboration with Boeing) while the latter is a single seater meant to be used to fly over water only for a limited time and at a limited altitude.
Boeing on the other hand is working on its own vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicle, and autonomous machine that took to the sky for the first time in January 2019. A cargo version of it is also in the works.
When announcing the partnership, Boeing and Kitty Hawk did not reveal any roadmap of their collaboration.
Among the many such small companies is Kitty Hawk, an entity backed by Larry Page, one of the guys that gave birth to the phenomenon that is now Google. For some time, Kitty Hawk has been researching this alternative means of transportation on its own.
No more, as this week Boeing, itself a company interested in selling passenger drones in the same quantities cars are being sold today, announced the signing of a deal that would push both of their research forward.
The exact details of the agreement were not announced, and Boeing only used vague terms like “a strategic partnership to collaborate on future efforts to advance safe urban air mobility.” There’s no official word on whether the two will actually build something together.
But they probably will.
Kitty Hawk already has two vehicles in its portfolio, the Cora and the Flyer. The former is a flying taxi that can take off and land like a helicopter (and as Kitty Hawk hints, the object of the collaboration with Boeing) while the latter is a single seater meant to be used to fly over water only for a limited time and at a limited altitude.
Boeing on the other hand is working on its own vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicle, and autonomous machine that took to the sky for the first time in January 2019. A cargo version of it is also in the works.
When announcing the partnership, Boeing and Kitty Hawk did not reveal any roadmap of their collaboration.
Google News