[aarmenante]

Doesn’t a helicopter serve these needs? I think the problem is there isn’t a market for it yet. There is Blade in NYC and LA but it’s closer to 10x the price. I think the cost could be a lot lower if there was higher demand.

I think there doesn’t need to be new tech to make this work. Helicopters are safe and reliable, but are out of reach financially for most. I don’t see how drones or multirotor would be able to compete on price for a very long time.

[FabHK]

Why do you think electric drones have taken off as toys and for filming etc, when remote controlled helicopters have been available for ages?

Because they have better properties for many use cases: much simpler mechanically, cheaper to operate, easier to control, etc. I’d also expect drones to be more reliable, but that remains to be seen.

[908087]

There's a problem here, though. Drones can't autorotate, and autorotation is kind of an important safety feature for helicopters carrying humans.

[FabHK]

Don't know about the (8-rotor) eHang, but the 18-rotor Volocopter remains fully controllable with 3 rotor failures (or more, if they're benignly distributed), and has a ballistic rescue chute in addition (which is hard to fit on a heli).

(Of course, you need a certain altitude for the BRS to kick in successfully, so low-level hover is a risk, just as with a helicopter.)

[908087]

Helicopters are generally safe, but Robinson helicopters are the exception, and are unfortunately incredibly common due to their comparatively low cost.

[prostoalex]

If the drone is autonomous and electric motor-driven, at least the human labor cost and fuel cost are taken out of equation.