Uber shows prototypes of flying cars that look like huge drones - part 2

At present, Uber has begun cooperation with NASA to develop new UberAIR services, and will face competition pressure from many competitors in the future. For example, Kitty Hawk, an auto flying taxi company invested by Alphabet founder Larry Page, launched the latest commercial model Cora in March this year. At present, the company has started to cooperate with the New Zealand government and gradually promote the commercialization of its air taxi. Uber's other competitor, Airbus, also successfully piloted an autonomous flying car product for the first time in February this year. To advance the project, Uber also signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA last November to develop an "automated traffic management" system for its "flying cars." This is the second agreement between Uber and NASA. As part of the agreement, Uber will share data related to its plan to produce a flying taxi in 2020 to assist NASA in developing urban air traffic (UAM) projects.

This flying car prototype looks like a large drone, not a helicopter, with four rotors on the wing. According to Uber, this design is safer than a helicopter with a single propeller. The flying car flies at an altitude of 300 to 600 meters above the ground and is quieter than a helicopter. The noise it generates is only half the size of a truck passing outside a window.

Uber also plans to launch UberAIR services in Dallas-Fort Worth and Los Angeles in 2023 and begin testing in these cities in 2020. According to previous plans, Uber will launch flying cars in Dubai and Dallas-Fort Worth in 2020 and will be fully operational by 2023. In addition, Uber plans to launch the service in Los Angeles before the opening of the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028.

Uber shows prototypes of flying cars that look like huge drones - part 1

On May 8th, Uber demonstrated the concept prototype of the "flying car" at its second Elevate annual summit, which will be used as Uber's air taxi in the future.

Uber announced the prototype of its "flying car" at its second annual summit of the "Elevate Summit." The prototype of the "flying car" looks more like a large drone than a helicopter. It uses a four-rotor design and Uber executives call this design safer than a helicopter. Their flying height will be between 1000 feet (about 305 meters) and 2000 feet (about 610 meters). Uber said that the initial "air taxi" service price will be comparable to the current Uber Black high-end taxi service. However, as the popularity of services increases, the price of passengers will be reduced to that of Uber X services.

In 2016, Uber announced its "Uber Elevate" flying car project. The aircraft can take off and land vertically, flying at low altitudes in the city. Unlike helicopters, Uber's "flying cars" use multi-rotor and fixed-wing designs that are more efficient and quieter. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stated in February this year that Uber’s “air taxi” service is expected to be commercialized within 5 to 10 years. Uber expects that these "air taxis" will eventually take off and land 200 times per hour. Initially, these flying cars will be equipped with pilots, but they will eventually achieve automatic driving.

Uber hopes to launch a flying taxi service for passengers in the next two to five years. Vertical take-off and landing can be achieved from ports, on the roof or on the ground. According to Uber executives, specialized landing and landing stations can handle 200 take-offs and landings per day while using only 24 seconds each time. Initially, the Uber flight taxi still needs guidance to get up and down smoothly. Uber's goal in the future is to allow it to achieve full automatic flight.

Microsoft Links DJI: Drone Technology Opens to Nearly 700 Million Win 10 Users -part 2

DJI Innovation CEO Luo Zhenhua said, “DJI is very pleased to be able to reach this unique cooperation with Microsoft and introduce DJI's powerful flight platform to Microsoft's developer ecosystem. With our new SDK, Windows developers can be possible to create truly intelligent flying robots by deploying artificial intelligence and machine learning technology on drones very fast. This will not only help companies save time and money, but will also further consolidate the market position of drone technology in the commercial sector."

In addition to launching SDK development tools for Windows, Microsoft and DJI also collaborate on the use of Azure IoT Edge and artificial intelligence technologies to develop more commercial remote control drone solutions for users in key vertical industries such as agriculture, construction, and public safety. Utilizing DJI drones and Azure's rich cloud computing and IoT toolset, an artificial intelligence solution created by Windows developers can be trained in the cloud and deployed to drones working in the field for real-time artificial intelligence. And the results of learning on one project can be quickly applied to all parts of the company's subordinates.

Currently, DJI is working with Microsoft to use the artificial intelligence model running on the Azure IoT Edge to aggregate and analyze data from air and ground sensors based on Microsoft's FarmBeats solution, thereby promoting advances in precision agriculture technology. With DJI drones, Microsoft's FarmBeats solution has used a variety of advanced sensors to detect conditions such as temperature, humidity, and light, using intuitive graphical insights to display information related to farm crops, livestock, and soil. Microsoft FarmBeats integrates DJI's PC Ground Station Professional software and mapping algorithms to generate real-time heat maps on the Azure IoT Edge to help farmers find early crop growth, pests and diseases that may affect harvests.

Through this cooperation, DJI will also enjoy the protection provided by Microsoft's “Azure Intellectual Property Protection Plan”for potential intellectual property disputes that may occur in the cloud. For Microsoft, this collaboration highlights the importance of intellectual property rights for a healthy and dynamic technology ecosystem, while further broadening the breadth of Microsoft's cooperation with emerging areas including car networking and wearable devices.

Microsoft Links DJI: Drone Technology Opens to Nearly 700 Million Win 10 Users -part 1

On May 7, 2018, during the annual Build Conference (Microsoft Global Developers Conference), Microsoft and global leader in civilian drones and imaging technology DJI, announced a strategic cooperation, which is equivalent to the opening of drone technology for nearly 700 million Windows 10 users worldwide.

Based on the strategic cooperation between the two parties, DJI released a software development kit (SDK) for Windows to expand commercial remote control drone technology into the world's largest corporate developer community. Applications written for Windows 10 computers can be used to customize the flight and control of UAV drones for various application scenarios in different industries, including complete flight control functions and real-time data transfer. It can be said that this is equivalent to opening drone technology to nearly 700 million Windows 10 users worldwide.

DJI also announced the selection of Microsoft Azure Intelligent Cloud Platform as its preferred cloud computing partner. It leveraged Azure's industry-leading artificial intelligence and machine learning services to help thousands of enterprise users worldwide from large amounts of aerial imagery and video data, and get business insights that help guide business decisions.

Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of cloud computing and enterprise division at Microsoft, said: "Calculation is becoming ubiquitous, and intelligent edge computing will be the next key technology frontier. DJI is a commercial drone technology giant, a leader in the field, and Microsoft Azure is a global intelligent cloud service platform favored by enterprise users. The strategic cooperation between the two parties will bring unmatched intelligence cloud and Azure IoT innovations to devices on smart edge computing, and will also give agriculture, business models for public safety, construction and more industries to create opportunities for change."

Demonstration of Drones in Microsoft Global Developer Conference Build 2018

DJI's SDK for Windows will allow developers to create native Windows applications to remotely control UAV drones and achieve autonomous flight, real-time data streaming and other functions. The SDK also allows Windows developers to integrate and control loads and mechanical components from third parties, such as multispectral sensors and custom motion devices. This will greatly expand the space and value of UAVs for companies.

YI Pixie, the first Xiaoyi drone product to be launched

On April 4th, in the field of drones, the most famous is DJI. Although many brands such as GoPro and Xiaomi have launched drone products one after another, they still cannot shake up the status of DJI. Recently, YI Pixie, the first unmanned drone product of Xiaomi's ecological chain enterprise Xiaoyi, was exposed on the Internet. From the appearance point of view, YI Pixie is not a professional-grade drone, but an entry-level consumer product.

Appearance

The appearance of YI Pixie is similar to that of DJI's drone Spark, which is small and exquisite. The overall size is about 25cm*18cm and the weight is about 300g. Appearance uses a black and white design, four wings should be non-foldable design.

Performance

From the performance, according to the exposure information, YI Pixie has a 15 megapixels 4K camera that supports 4K resolution video capture. Support three axis shake system, time-lapse photography mode, continuous shooting mode and other functions. YI Pixie uses a brushless motor + replaceable propeller configuration, replaceable battery, support 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz Wifi picture transfer to mobile phone, built-in GPS, can be operated through the APP. Other features include supporting face tracking, flight missions, one-click take-off and landing, and more.

In terms of configuration, YI Pixie can be said that it is advanced enough, from the appearance point of view is also very simple just like the dji spark, it seems that small Xiaoyis are aware of the needs of entry-level users. At present, the Xiaoyi's products include panoramic cameras, micro-single, sports cameras, driving recorders, etc., which are highly cost-effective.

It is well-known that the quality of Xiaomi Technology's products has always been trustworthy. If there is no accident,'s price will also bring surprises for everyone. YI Pixie overall performance is fairly good, we predict that the price of YI Pixie will be relatively cheaper compared to other brands, in line with the needs of entry-level drone users.

Zipline Tests Second Generation UAV - part 2

U.S. startup Zipline, which focuses on developing drones and using drones to deliver life-saving medical supplies, has demonstrated its second-generation delivery drone Zip 2, and plans to expand its business to the United States and other global markets this year. The Zip 2 drone has a maximum flying speed of 79 mph and a load of 3.85 pounds.

Zipline drones may look like airplanes, but they don't need a runway. The company's system involves three types of hardware: a set of drones, a track that uses motor winding cables to launch their tracks, and a tower with ropes to capture the drone on return. The company had previously demonstrated drones and launchers, but now it also shows the catcher.

Zipline's old system can launch about 50 drones per day, but it will simplify airplanes and electronic equipment and increase it to about 500 a day, Wyrobek said. The second-generation drones are now used in Rwanda and their cruising range is about 100 miles. In addition, the drone's electronic “brains”, communications, rc battery cables, and batteries are now integrated into one module. When Zipline gets an order via SMS, it takes about one to two minutes to send the destination to the electronic device instead of using the 10 minutes that were set earlier.

In addition, the second-generation drones now do not have to be assembled with multiple components, but only a single electronic module, which is lighter in weight - mounted on top of the drone. After that, an employee placed a payload on the drone, then scanned the device with a smartphone and digitally associated the payload with the drone. There is also a smartphone scanning several QR codes on the plane, triggering a quick test. Each flight can last up to 45 minutes per flight. In addition, drone air sensors measure wind speed and direction.

Zipline will only focus on medical supplies at this stage - it will begin with the delivery of blood and then begin to deliver vaccination and prescription drugs. Blood can only flow to the hospital, but other products will also expand Zipline's clinic services.

Zipline Tests Second Generation UAV - part 1

According to CNET, drone startup Zipline recently tested its drone at the foothills of the western part of the Central Valley in California. The company had previously shown some technologies but now reveals its faster new drone model - from 68 miles per hour increased to 80 miles per hour. In addition, it has an upgraded transportation system that can handle 500 flights a day.

Zipline was founded in 2011 by a group of engineers from SpaceX, Boeing, Google and Willow Garage and launched a drone-based logistics service as early as 2016. As of now, Zipline has raised approximately $43 million in funds. Zipline's investors include Visionnaire Ventures, which led the Round B financing, and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, founders of Yahoo Yang Zhiyuan, Sequoia Capital, and Anderson Horowitz and so on.

Amazon, Google, Wal-Mart, and other companies are also testing drones, but Zipline is now able to use drones to deliver blood from bases to Rwandan hospitals. The company’s second launch site in Rwanda is nearing completion to expand the delivery of vaccines and drugs and plans to start operations in Tanzania.

When the road was flooded or the clinic was on the island, delivery drones could quickly reach medical supplies 50 miles away. So Keenan Wyrobek, founder and director of engineering at Zipline, believes drones will also come to the United States. Wyrobek said that Zipline’s drone will be able to integrate with existing air traffic control systems in the future. At present, drones are operated by humans remotely. If there is a problem, they can change course, but in Rwanda, there are 7,000 flights that do not require any action based on the requirements of the air traffic controller.

The Federal Aviation Administration of the United States is wary of approving drone operations, but Zipline hopes to find a place to operate in the United States. This is part of the eight proposals made by states and local governments to launch drone delivery plans.