UAS flight testing and railway inspection, Uber and Daimler partner on autonomous vehicles
As part of our new collaboration with the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), we will be publishing regular updates written by AUVSI staff on the latest news and headlines in unmanned vehicles and robotics. This is the first AUVSI contribution to our new section of the website focused on "unmanned" technologies.
Vigilant Aerospace completes BLOS flight test
Vigilant Aerospace, based in Oklahoma City, OK, USA, has announced that its new FlightHorizon detect-and-avoid collision avoidance system for unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has undergone successful beyond-line-of-sight (BLOS) flight testing. During the test, the system was used to detect and track intruder aircraft, as well as provide traffic alerts and collision warnings on all air traffic during the encounters.
To demonstrate the system’s BLOS capabilities, a variety of flights were conducted, including ones where ground based unmanned pilots were possibly unable to see approaching aircraft due to a variety of factors such as distance, weather, altitude and speed.
In total, almost 100 scripted encounters between UAS under different realistic flight conditions were flown to test several of the system’s primary functionalities, including its DAA algorithms, user interface performance, and hardware integration.
Two DJI Phantom 4 UAS were used to fly 18 different scenarios multiple times, in which one Phantom acted as the primary ownship, while the other Phantom played the part of an intruding aircraft. These testing scenarios triggered FlightHorizon’s traffic alerts, threat alerts, and collision warnings, which allowed the pilots to make the proper adjustments so that they could avoid collisions with other aircraft.
FlightHorizon’s technology is based on a software suite developed and tested by NASA. The system is designed to meet several regulations, including the FAA’s UAS regulations on BLOS flying, night flying, and airspace authorization.
Cyberhawk completes railway inspection using unmanned aircraft
The first internal and external structural inspection for the United Kingdom rail network has been completed by Cyberhawk Innovations, based in Scotland.
Cyberhawk used multiple, specially made unmanned aircraft to collect photos of the railway. The UAS method provided for a quick and safer solution, opposed to ground work, which involves scaffolding, the company says.
Cyberhawk used multiple, specially made unmanned aircraft to collect photos of the railway. The UAS method provided for a quick and safer solution, opposed to ground work, which involves scaffolding, the company says.
The two-day inspection took place at Rugby rail station in Warwickshire, England.
Uber, Daimler partner to deliver ride-hailing autonomous vehicles
Uber has announced that it will partner with German automaker Daimler. As a part of the partnership, Daimler will build autonomous vehicles that will eventually operate on Uber’s ride-hailing network.
"Auto manufacturers like Daimler are crucial to our strategy because Uber has no experience making cars — and in fact, making cars is really hard," said Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.
With that in mind, Uber will not be helping Daimler with the development of these vehicles, leaving that task solely to the company that is best known for developing the line of Mercedes-Benz cars and trucks.
Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, believes that CASE is the future to successful mobility.
"Mobility service providers offer an ideal platform for autonomous driving technology and Uber is a leading mobility platform company,"said Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the board of Daimler AG and head of Mercedes-Benz Cars.
"The real revolution in future mobility lies in intelligently linking the four major trends we call CASE: connectivity, autonomous driving, sharing and electric mobility. And we will certainly be the driver of these changes," Zetsche said.
View more information on the AUVSI.
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