United Kingdom
Opening of the first eVTOL vertiport
Traffic Technology Today, 26.04.2022
The world's first fully functioning vertiport for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft has opened in Coventry (UK).
Urban-Air Port, a British developer of ground infrastructure for air taxis and delivery UAVs, will operate Air-One in the center of Coventry for at least one month. You can get acquainted with the vertiport device in the video at the link at the end of the article.
With the support of the UK government and the American transport service provider Supernal (part of Hyundai Motor Group)
Air-One will demonstrate the potential of advanced air mobility.
Air-One is a prefabricated vertiport with an area of 1700 m2, providing for quick installation and disassembly. The central section with a diameter of 17 m serves as a platform for the approach and take-off of eVTOL vehicles. Flight control demonstrations and charging of eVTOL controlled and autonomous vehicles will be held at Air-One.
One of the first users of the vertiport will be the West Midlands Police and Skyfarer. British developer Malloy Aeronautics will demonstrate the flights of large cargo UAVs. A full-size model of the Supernal concept air taxi will also be demonstrated in Air-One.
Ricky Sandhu, founder and CEO of Urban-Air Port, notes that the opening of Air-One is the launch project for a new era of transport: "Urban-Air Port delivered Air-One in just 15 months, from design to manufacture and commissioning, installing a standard for the whole world and opening up a world of opportunities for rapid deployment of air mobility. Air-One is just the first model in our fleet of infrastructure projects, and we are already receiving new orders. Interest turns into recognition of the need for our technology and demand for it. "
Air-One will provide a technical and regulatory plan for the construction of more than 200 vertiports worldwide over the next five years to meet the growing demand. Urban-Air Port reports that vertiports are already planned in the cities of the West Midlands and London, Great Britain, as well as in the USA, Australia, South Korea, France, Germany, Scandinavia and Southeast Asia.
China
Autonomous taxi service in Beijing
Traffic Technology Today, 04.05.2022
The main office of the Beijing High-Level Driving Demonstration Zone (BJHAD) has issued Baidu the first permit in China for autonomous passenger transportation on public roads in Beijing.
In accordance with the permit, ten autonomous cars will provide taxi services in the designated area of the Chinese capital with an area of 60 sq. km. The cars have a classic layout with a driver's seat and steering wheel, but the driver himself is not in the cabin.
Users will be able to book an autonomous ride using the Apollo Go mobile app during the daytime from 10:00 to 16:00. Apollo Go is an autonomous Baidu service in Beijing.
"Intelligent driving in China has officially entered the driverless phase," says Wei Dong, vice president and chief security Officer of Baidu Intelligent Driving Business Group. "It also demonstrates the ability of Baidu's autonomous driving technology to navigate a complex urban environment to meet the needs of public transport. In the future, this technology will provide standardized passenger service on urban roads and will really become a part of people's daily lives. "
Apollo Go now operates in nine cities in China: Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Changsha, Cangzhou, Yangquan and Wuzhen. In the fourth quarter of 2021, 213,000 orders were received on Apollo Go.
Norway
Introduction of electric scooters with machine vision function
Traffic Technology Today, 28.04.2022
As part of the first full-scale introduction of computer vision technology on electric scooters in Europe, thousands of Voi scooters in the Norwegian capital Oslo will be equipped with PathPilot artificial intelligence technology from Drover.
Artificial intelligence uses machine vision and learning to determine whether an electric scooter is on a sidewalk, road, or bike path.
After the first large-scale application of computer vision on electric scooters last year in the city of Northampton (UK), the Swedish micromobility operator is conducting a similar project in Oslo to improve the safety of scooters and compliance with traffic rules.
PathPilot will help Voi and Oslo City Council track and control where and how scooters drive and park in the city.
This technology, similar to sensors used in autonomous vehicles, can be directly connected to the scooter's engine to automatically slow down when the scooter enters restricted areas, such as sidewalks. PathPilot can also train its parking algorithm to determine if the scooter is parked correctly.
PathPilot automatically provides information about fleet usage and user behavior, which Voi will send to the Oslo City Council to help improve service.
Demand for shared mobility services in Oslo is high: in the summer of 2021, 70% of the city's residents downloaded the Voi app.