The first flying car in the world!

According to the report of the British automobile media on March 6, PAL-V Liberty, the first mass-produced commercial flying car under the Dutch PAL-V company, was publicly presented at the Geneva Motor Show 2018. It is reported that the first mass production of flying vehicles in line with the European road and air traffic standards, has now begun to accept reservations through the company website. In addition, the car will be sold for a limited edition of 90, will be officially delivered in 2019.

The PAL-V flying car is divided into Pioneer Edition and Sports Edition. The pre-tax selling price of the Pioneer Edition officially is approximately 431,000 pounds, including flight instruction, personalized service, etc.; the Sports version is priced at approximately 25.4. Million pounds, including flight teaching and other costs, but the personalized service content are different with the Pioneer Edition. The car adopts a twin-engine, three-wheel, two-rotor design. The propellers and tail rotors are released and they can be turned into rotary-wing aircraft. They are equipped with a dual-propelled power system and the roads are driven and the two-pronged approach to flying. The car body is almost the same as a normal car, and the suspension system is lower. The double cockpit can also be tilted to better adapt to the curvature of the ground.

According to the official, PAL-Liberty takes only 5-10 minutes to complete the deformation process. When it enters the flight mode, the wind drum thruster will automatically expand, but the driver only needs to push out the tail part to open two rotor blades and start it. Propulsion unit will be ready for flight. Before trying the real flying car, I guess you’d better try some Multi Rotor Parts for RC players first.

This flying car, named Liberty, is a combination of a two-seat hybrid car and a rotary-wing aircraft that can switch between driving mode and flight mode within 10 minutes. With a two-seater design, the maximum speed on the road is about 100 miles (161 kilometers) per hour, the maximum speed in the sky is about 112 miles (about 180 kilometers) per hour, and the highest flight altitude is 11,000 feet. Landing mode maximum life is about 1315km, the maximum life in flight mode is about 500km.

In addition, in order to drive this flying car, the driver must hold a flight license in addition to the driver's license. Users of the PAL-V Liberty flying car must have a flying driver's license and a road car driver's license. Given its type of rotorcraft, a flight record of 35 hours is also required for the flight license. 

Take you to visit CP+ for our beloved DJI products - part 3

After launching the first generation of Osmo and OsmoMobile from DJI, it is officially entering the stabilizer industry, and DJI stabilizes developed very quickly in the past two years. Although the price of the product was higher at that time, the experienced users must know that it really works well. Take our video channel for example, we now design video projects, such as camera introductions, video tutorials for outings using Osmo or OsmoMobile with mobile phones.

1. DJI Osmo+

Now, Osmo has already launched the second generation of Osmo, the new product in addition to further improve the video and stability, the biggest upgrade is to support 3.5x optical zoom and 2x lossless digital zoom. In this way, we can experience a farther perspective when we use it in peacetime. The equivalent focal length of the lens is raised to 22-77mm.

2. DJI OSMO Mobile 2

DJI's Osmo Mobile 2 is this year's new product. This series of products is to set up mobile phones making mobile phone shooting more stable, perspective changes more smoothly. Mobile phone PTZ makes the entry threshold lower. Before, me myself experienced the first generation of products, it really improves the shooting effect of the mobile phone. First of all, whether it is still or moving, the picture will not produce jitter, and the perspective of the conversion screen is very smooth.

3. DJI Ronin

In addition to Osmo, a hand-held stabilizer for camera, and an OsmoMobile for mobile phones, DJI also has stabilizers for professional camera equipment such as Zenmuse and Ronin. The stabilizers of the Ronin series are all geared to professional equipment. The biggest difference is that they are more load-bearing, and they can also bring very good stability and smooth transitions.

From DJI’s booth, we can see that everything is centered on the product itself and the product’s technology, especially the drone flight test area. Apart from seeing a better quality lens, drone's own flight performance, stability, intelligent AI recognition, etc. have been highly mature. Stabilizers are even more so. Looking forward to the future of DJI will bring us better products and related technologies.

Take you to visit CP+ for our beloved DJI products - part 2

The just-concluded CP+ (photographic equipment and imaging exhibition, is one of the most influential digital camera equipment exhibitions in the world) showcased the latest digital imaging equipment products from major global manufacturers this year. There are many companies participating in CP+ this year, including Canon, Nikon and so on. One of the most representative companies is DJI. The big booth of DJI exhibited almost all their popular products. In the previous article, we already talked about the Mavic Air drones. Now let's take a look at the other star drones of DJI.

2. DJI Inspire

The four-axis flagship quadcopter of DJI, Inspire, was also shown on the CP+ site, which was installed the new lens launched by DJI last year. The new lens highlights the lightweight features and highlights the use of different formats such as APS-C. Inspire is equipped with a new intelligent system design in DJI, better stability, and can track the movement of people to dynamically adjust their shooting direction, the effect is excellent. This shows that DJI's AI design has been very mature.

3. DJI Phantom, DJI Spark

At the exhibition site, we also saw dji spark, a popular product in the previous year and the year before last, and Phantom, a classic product of DJI. That is, at the CP+ exhibition site, DJI showed us a full range of four-axis aircraft products. Regardless of the old and the new, we can see that DJI always seizes the market from the products and does not rely on the propaganda and public relations to enhance the brand influence. This kind of strategy based on R&D and product will be able to stand firmer in the future and will be able to retain its absolute market share.

In previous years, when we mentioned DJI, we would certainly talk about DJI’s drone aerial photography and we also talked about DJI’s market share in the drone industry. But now, again referring to the DJI brand, we have a brand new topic: its stabilizer, which is the handheld product that we will talk about next.

Take you to visit CP+ for our beloved DJI products - part 1

The CP+2018 show really can be said to be brilliant. All major technology brands have shown their trump card products. Among them, we can not ignore it, of course, UAV ace player - DJI. DJI is currently the leader in the drones and aerial photography industry, and it occupies an absolute market share. Now it has also made outstanding achievements in the field of stabilizers. At the CP+2018 site, DJI also brought us a wonderful display.

First of all, we are certainly looking at DJI's many well-known drones.

1. DJI Mavic Air

The new UAV drone now is Mavic Air. This product is designed for the aerial photographers and other users, so in the design, it reflects the lightweight side of the carrying characteristics. Its camera is integrated with the drone so the takeoff weight is fixed.

In terms of shooting performance, Mavic Air is equipped with a 1/2.3-inch 12-megapixel sensor that supports up to 4K 30p 100Mbps video recording and can shoot full HD 120p video at the same time. In terms of aircraft specifications, DJI Mavic Air is equipped with a three-axis stabilized head, equipped with binocular vision sensors in front, bottom, and rear. The overall performance is very interesting.

The biggest selling point of DJI Mavic Air is intelligence. It is even better for gesture and face recognition. From the live demonstration we can see that it performs very well. Whether it is to operate the direction of flight, landing, etc., these gestures can be accurately implemented through gesture recognition. Four cameras were designed separately in the front and rear, in order to support its obstacle avoidance function, this can be more intelligent during the flight.

In the past ten years, it was a hard time for camera manufacturers all over the world. Digital camera shipments decreased by nearly 80%. The popularity of smartphones represented by the iPhone led to a hard time of the protagonists on CP+ like Canon, Nikon, and Olympus. Although the quality of the photos taken by smartphones is not as high as that of cameras, they provide the convenience of taking and sharing anytime, anywhere, making the quality of photos not so important. Revolutionarily, smartphones make everyone a "photographer." The new consumer drones represented by Mavic Air will bring a whole new revolution to the industry.

Airbus autopilot "Flying Taxi" Vahana completed its first test flight

Airbus announced that its Vahana electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft completed its first test flight on January 31 local time. During the test, the full-size aircraft flew 5 meters off the ground and landed safely, but the automatic flight lasted only 53 seconds.

The first flight was completed at 8:52 am Pacific Time on January 31 at Pendleton UAS Range, Oregon. The first flight was carried out in the fully automated driving mode with a flight altitude of 5 meters and then safely landed. The next day, Vahana successfully completed its second test flight. Airbus said it wants to build an autonomous multi-rotor eVTOL fleet to make air commutes in a future-jammed city. Launched in 2016, the project was launched by Airbus subsidiary A³ in Silicon Valley. Since then, the company regularly releases new developments about the aircraft, including a user experience concept video.

In fact, Airbus planned to make its first flight, called Alpha One at the end of last year, but flight testing was delayed until the end of January as the company relocated the flight test center from California to Pendleton, Oregon. A³ previously said it will launch a production version of Alpha One in 2020. According to the information provided by A3, Alpha One's main specifications are as follows: 20.3 feet wide, 18.7 feet long, 9.2 feet high and 1642 pounds heavy. We are all looking forward to more RC Quadcopter Spares provided so the RC aircraft industry will be developed in a faster and healthier way.

"Our goal has always been to design and manufacture a single-seat electric vertical take-off and landing pilot to meet the growing demand for city travel," said Zach Lovering, Vahana Project Leader. "We have celebrated this huge achievement in aviation innovation, and in less than two years Vahana has completed a conceptual drawing on a napkin and successfully completed its first flight and our team is very grateful for the support from our A3 and Airbus families as well as our partners including MTSI and the Pendleton UAV system base. "

Vahana is a research and development project for the A3 Innovation Center at Airbus Outpost in Silicon Valley. The A3 Innovation Center is able to acquire unique talent and ideas, discover new opportunities for cooperation and execute quickly. Vahana aims to meet the growing needs of urban transport by harnessing the latest technologies in electric propulsion, energy storage and machine vision, all-in-one personal flight.

1218 UAV pieced together as "Olympic rings"

On the night of February 9, at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, 1218 UAVs built the first UAV light show in the history of the Olympic Games. UAV carrying LED lights in the air to form a three-dimensional image of a skier, then change the formation, pieced together as "Olympic rings". The Guinness Book of World Records, which flew the largest number of drones at the same time, was born here.

The 1218 unmanned aerial vehicles were Shooting Star drones made by Intel Corporation of the United States, each weighing only 330 grams, a little heavier than volleyball. Intel explained that "the unmanned aerial vehicles that were unveiled at the opening ceremony were equipped with LED lighting devices that could show more than 4 billion color combinations when flying to the sky." There are media reports the UAV formation this time is not on-site control, but pre-recorded because of fear of Pyeongchang overly cold weather and unpredictable winds.

In fact, Chinese companies have also used quadcopter drone for similar performances. In December 2017, 1180 UAVs produced by Chinese companies made a spectacular and varied show in Guangzhou, forming different Chinese characters and patterns, setting a world record then. The live performance and the changing patterns make it more difficult to imagine the difficulty of the programming.

An authoritative Chinese expert on the field of drone said on the "Global Times" on the 11th that the key to fancy business performance is to be accurate and coordinated. The movements are pre-arranged, and according to the location of each individual UAV in accordance with their time and path of flight, you can display complex graphics in the air. In simple terms, there is no particularly complicated algorithm, and the main task is to have each UAV fly according to the path and time of the animation simulation. The UAV GPS signals or more accurate differential GPS signal will accurately locate the spatial location.

Would you like to know if your flight will be delayed? Ask Google.

Today, Google's flight search service APP Google Flights released new features that make use of artificial intelligence techniques to predict flight delays. Google Flights, Google's flight inquiry service, has recently been updated to help travelers resolve some problems. Based on historical flight status data, Google Flights attempts to predict when the flight will be delayed, and it can tell you which amenities are not included in the base economy class fare.

Google Flights now not only gets information directly from airlines, but it also uses historical data and machine learning algorithms to predict flights that have not yet been flagged for delays, helping travelers to cope and reduce losses. As long as the user search for a flight, Google will inform you if the flight may delay. This is based on historical data and the latest flight information to predict. Google said it will only issue a delay forecast when the system has at least 80% confidence. Google Flights uses advanced technology to predict when the ticket price increases, to help customers seize the best time to buy tickets.

There is another importance upgrade should be mentioned which also improves the service quality of this APP. In the past few years, many airlines started providing only basic carrier services. Additional services such as baggage check-in and on-board meals are subject to additional fees, and users are sometimes unsure of what items are included. Now, Google Flights shows you which services are not included in the fare. The available airlines include Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, and United Airlines.

Feel amazing at this advance high technology? You can also design and make your own AI. By using some Smart Robot Accessories, differences smart robots can be made as you wish. Just follow the instruction book, or if you are confident enough, just make the best of your creativity and DIY ability to do it.