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myCopter Personal Aerial Vehicle (PAV)
Too much congestion and waiting in traffic when driving those primitive ground cars? These European Union engineers have been funded to find a solution, which involves taking to the skies in a PAV - Personal Aerial Vehicle - named myCopter
(myCopter takes to the skies - in concept)
We propose an integrated approach to enable the first viable PATS based on Personal Aerial Vehicles (PAVs) envisioned for travelling between homes and working places, and for flying at low altitude in urban environments. Such PAVs should be fully or partially autonomous without requiring ground-based air traffic control. Furthermore, they should operate outside controlled airspace while current air traffic remains unchanged, and should later be integrated into the next generation of controlled airspace.The myCopter project aims to pave the way for PAVs to be used by the general public within the context of such a transport system. The project consortium consists of experts that can make the technology advancements necessary for a viable PATS, and a partner to assess the impact of the envisioned PATS on society (socio-technological evaluation). To this end, test models of handling dynamics for potential PAVs will be designed and implemented on unmanned aerial vehicles, motion simulators, and a manned helicopter. In addition, an investigation into the human capability of flying a PAV will be conducted, resulting in a user-centred design of a suitable human-machine interface (HMI). Furthermore, the project will introduce new automation technologies for obstacle avoidance, path planning and formation flying, which also have excellent potential for other aerospace applications. This project is a unique integration of technological advancements and social investigations that are necessary to move public transportation into the third dimension.
I'm sure other science fiction writers helped to put this dream in our collective heads, but Robert Heinlein called his version the copter harness (from his 1954 juvenile The Star Beast):
They were half way home when a single flyer, hopping free in a copter harness, approached the little parade. The flier ignored the red warning light stabbing out from the police chief's car and slanted straight down at the huge star beast. John Thomas thought that he recognized that he recognized Betty's slapdash style...
(Read more about Heinlein's copter harness)
Technovelgy readers have seen vertical takeoff from your backyard ideas before. From MyCopter via Iflscience.
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