AWARD YEAR
2019
CATEGORY
Community
GOALS
Sustainable Cities & Communities
KEYWORDS
aircraft, Automation, transportation
COUNTRY
France
DESIGNED BY
A³ by Airbus
WEBSITE
https://www.airbus-sv.com/projects/1
Vahana
The next technological breakthrough in urban air mobility.
Project Vahana intends to open up urban airways by developing the first certified electric, self-piloted vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) passenger aircraft. We envision Vahana being used by everyday commuters as a cost-comparable replacement for short-range urban transportation like cars or trains. No more traffic accidents or train delays to impact your plans. We anticipate speeds will be 2-4x faster than cars or traffic, and have a flight range of about 50 miles (80 km). A core premise of this project is that full automation and sense-and-avoid technology will allow us to achieve higher safety levels by minimizing human error while allowing more vehicles to share the sky. Vahana can be an air taxi, but it can also be used as a cargo delivery platform, ambulance, search and rescue, mobile hospital, limousine, or even as a tool to deploy modular infrastructure in disaster sites. It can be as diverse as its wheeled grounded counterpart.