How far is the driverless "flying"?

In exploring civilian driverless aircraft

China is at the forefront of the world

But in the future, you want to hit the driverless "flying" travel

Safety is still a huge challenge

Unmanned aircraft wants to realize commercialization

Need to rely on a relatively complete ecology

Open the mobile phone software and enter the address, you can take the driverless "flying" to your destination, which may no longer be a dream in the future.

A few days ago, the China Civil Aviation Administration released the "Civil Driven Aviation Development Road Map V1.0" (hereinafter referred to as "Linemap"), which proposed that in 2025, 2030 and 2035, they will be realized in short, medium, and medium -to -long distances in 2035, respectively. Manned driverless aircraft exploration applications.

The concept of urban air transportation has been common in recent years. Many countries have released urban air traffic planning plans, and flying cars have become new air outlets. So far, 200 companies have joined the "Speed ​​Campaign" worldwide. China took the lead in achieving breakthroughs in zero -navigation standards for driverless aircraft. At present, how far is we from driving the unmanned "flying" commute?

Driven Airlines certification is blank

Security is a challenge

The "Roadmap" released by the Civil Aviation Administration on August 22 states that by 2025, a short -range manned flight represented by urban commute transportation will carry out application demonstrations. By 2030 and 2035, the mid -range manned transportation between the suburbs and cities, and the urban manned transportation will be opened separately. On September 2nd, Ma Zhigang, deputy director of the Airport Department of the Civil Aviation Administration, revealed at the International Development Forum of the Urban Air Transportation International Development Forum that the Airport Department considers the establishment of a special research group to conduct targeted research on the technical standards of flying vehicles vertical take -off and landing fields.

In recent years, flying cars have been popular. Flying cars, that is, electric vertical take -off and landing aircraft (EVTOL), looks a bit similar to helicopters, Boeing, Airbus and other old aircraft manufacturers and Tencent, Uber and other technology companies have entered the field. Due to the high threshold and test flight cycle of the global aviation industry regulatory agency on aircraft safety aircraft, and the differences between EVTOL products in terms of electrification and rotor structures and traditional passenger planes, people driving flying vehicle airworthiness certification globally worldwide Still in the exploration, the airworthiness of driverless aircraft is even more blank.

On May 9, 2020, in Nansha, Guangzhou, Yiyang driverless aircraft conducted a manpate test flight. Photo/Visual China

In February of this year, the Civil Aviation Administration of China released the "Special Conditions for the EH216-S-S-type driverless aircraft system" (hereinafter referred to as "Special Conditions"), which clarified the maximum take-off weight and flight height of this model of aircraft systems. It can be equipped with the number of passengers, the surveillance of the aircraft through the entire process, the on -board passengers can use mobile communication networks with ground voice, video communication, etc. Before the release of "Special Conditions", there was no precedent globally. However, the Civil Aviation Administration also pointed out that it has not yet awarded aircraft systems for this type of aircraft system.

Everlast Intelligent is the first manned -class autonomous driving aircraft approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China. He Tianxing, Vice President of Everlasting Smart, told China News Weekly that the EH216-S-type airworthiness approval work is underway and is currently conducting partial test tests. EH216-S has been tried to fly in 11 application scenarios, including 11 application scenarios, including the domestic cities, coastlines, scenic spots, and non-densely populated characteristic towns, with a maximum flight speed of 130 kilometers/h. This type of aircraft can take up to two people at a time. As of the second quarter of this year, EH216-S had completed more than 5,700 trial flights, including air tourism tourism in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Sanya and other cities. The Eyhang plan first tried the flight in some cities, and then promoted this driverless aircraft to more cities around the world.

The domestic aircraft for autonomous aircraft is "one step". The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) remained cautious about it. Some people in the aviation industry have pointed out that Faa and EASA do not recognize this way to have sufficient security in conceptual.

An industry insider who is unknown said that the degree of automation required by driverless aircraft manned manned is a new field. It must reach the safety level of the civil airliner or the number of similar safety performance in order to ensure that the actual flight control is reliable and reliable. Essence In his opinion, there are many hidden concerns of manned unmanned aircraft. For example, most of the models have short research and development time and less operating experience. "Even many companies are still verifying the shrinkage model. "". Furthermore, when the unmanned aircraft has emergency situations, the level of system intelligence used to regulate the aircraft is not high enough.

Autonomous aircraft fly at low airspace. In China, the range of the low airspace is 100 meters to 1,000 meters from the ground, and the maximum flight height of the EH216-S EH216-S is 200 meters. Low -altitude flying means facing a more complicated meteorological environment.清华大学车辆与运载学院教授、中国首位莱特兄弟奖章获得者张扬军对《中国新闻周刊》分析说，民航客机的自动驾驶一般是在巡航高度8000米至10000多米的高空，气象条件较好；而The low -altitude regional meteorological conditions where the unmanned aircraft is located is complicated, especially the low -altitude wind cutting, etc., which seriously affects flight safety. The perception, decision -making and response to the meteorological environment are more complicated. "This is a huge challenge for manned driverless aircraft."

Zhang Yangjun further pointed out that the current intelligent driverless driving is also mainly suitable for non -high -density flight under good weather conditions, such as wind and sunny weather for tourism. For the time being, a large number of unmanned aircraft flights are high -density. Zheng Guilin, a professor at the School of Power and Machinery of Wuhan University, told China News Weekly that most civil aviation passenger planes were in a state of autonomous driving during cruising. However, in terms of safety, whether the device enters independent navigation is manipulated by the flying driver. In his opinion, the key to the reason why civil aviation passenger planes can guarantee relatively safe is that drivers with experience and professional knowledge. On the civil aircraft, the driver is an irreplaceable role.

Eyhang's autonomous aircraft relies on artificial intelligence algorithms to achieve automatic flight throughout the process. He Tianxing told "China News Weekly" that the company integrates the "full backup" concept of the IT field into the design of the autonomous driving aircraft, including a full backup design including propellers, various sensors, power systems, batteries and other key components, such as EH216-S has 16 propellers. When individual propellers encounter a failure, other propeller will automatically make up the power to ensure the aircraft fly smoothly. When the emergency occurs, Yishhang's ground command dispatch center will also intervene in time and manually participate in management.

He Tianxing said that the scheduling system will plan multiple routes for passengers in advance. When an emergencies occur in one route, the system will automatically select another optimal route to continue executing instructions, and real -time transmission of remote management and flight data through 4G/5G networks.

Zhang Yangjun emphasized that when aircraft flights are in emergency situations such as faults, they cannot stop on the side of the road like a car on the ground. The security mode of repairing the internal data of the system must be started to ensure that the safe landing is stopped. This is also one of the most important challenges faced by unmanned aircraft. Zhang Yangjun believes that just like the initial setting of a safety officer for autonomous driving taxis, and finally transitioned to completely driverless driving, manned driverless aircraft may follow similar development channels.

He Tianxing said that Yishhang's driverless aircraft can help the aircraft quickly identify obstacles in the low airspace through algorithms and sensors to automatically avoid them. Zhang Yangjun believes that in addition to the driverless aircraft itself, it is more important to establish the rules of air management and the establishment of a regulatory system. Digital airspace planning and construction are an important foundation for unmanned aircraft safety and high -density flights. In addition, the setting of the take -off and landing point is also a question that needs to be considered.

There is no good operating model, it is difficult to achieve industrialization

Many experts are more optimistic about the freight market than driving "flying" in the short term. Drone cargo has been applied in the field of logistics. Meituan, Ali, JD.com, SF and other companies have layout.

The aforementioned industry speculates that unmanned aircraft in the short term will not be difficult to become a large -scale commuting tool. In contrast, the drone loading is lower than that of people in terms of safety and flight quality, and pays more attention to economics and timeliness. In his opinion, the "flying" of the early autonomous driving will be at the stage of accumulating flight data and operating experience.

According to Morgan Stanley's forecast, the global flight automobile industry will reach a market size of $ 300 billion in 2030 and increase to $ 1.5 trillion in 2040. The current price of driverless "air" is unable to refer to the current price. Before commercialization, Yishhang's trial flight in specific application scenarios was free.

On June 27, at the 2022 China (Shijiazhuang) International New Energy and Smart Automobile Expo, Xiaopeng Automobile released a "T1" flight car released by Xiaopeng Automobile. Figure/IC

He Tianxing said that compared with the ground, the manned autonomous driving aircraft can save at least double the time, and the company will calculate the model based on cost and then pricing.

As for whether the "flying car" of unmanned driving in the future can have a "armored" model and make passengers a lower travel cost? He Tianxing said that I believe that there will be 4 to 6 "empty minions" in unmanned driving in the future, or a larger "air bus", but the acceptance of the public concept and the combination of hardware supporting facilities. Zhang Yangjun analyzed that from a technical point of view, the weight ratio of new energy electricity to promote power system is low, that is, the electric promotion system is too heavy, resulting in a small load and a short range. This is a problem to be solved in the future.

If according to the timetable of the Civil Aviation Administration, by 2030 and 2035, unmanned driving manned transportation between cities will be realized, which is a bit similar to domestic and foreign regional aviation industry. According to data provided by the United States Regional Airlines Association, in 2017, branch airlines accounted for 41 % of all regular passenger flights in the United States. Can the unmanned "flying" in the future possibility of large -scale commercialization?

The aforementioned industry believes that the advantages of "flying" are mainly reflected in the timeliness and ornamental, "this will become the choice of people with higher time limit." In addition, the low -altitude scenery has certain ornamental than the ground "car dragon". He pointed out that the route is a very precious resource, and the number of flying cars in the future cannot be as many as ground cars. This also determines that the price will be relatively high. "In terms of results, it is already a very successful thing to solve the problem of 10 % to 20 % of urban traffic.

In his opinion, the commercialization of manned unmanned aircraft still has a long way to go. "In terms of market demand alone, many people’s assessments are out of imagination and calculation. Compared with the automotive industry volume, it contains the volume of the automotive industry. The demand for drones is relatively small. " According to his opinion, whether it can industrialization must not only be based on stable needs, but also depends on the ecology of related industries, including technical breakthroughs in batteries and motors, manufacturers' investment intentions, policy support, and formulation of operational specifications, etc. Essence The choice of the operation mode is the top priority. If you can't find a good operating mode, there will be no way to achieve large -scale operations. Zhang Yangjun pointed out that the electrification, intelligent industrial chain and the automotive industry of unmanned aircraft have high integration, that is, the industrial foundation of the "flying" industry in the future must be closely integrated with automobiles. At present, on the safety of key components and systems such as motor batteries, if you want to meet the requirements of aviation regulations, you must do a lot of work. "But new things will have strong vitality." Zhang Yangjun believes that industrial development needs to rely on a good ecology.

Some observers of the foreign aviation industry believe that the operating concepts and application scenarios proposed by domestic manned unmanned aircraft have followed the ideas of European and American countries. The final application scenario may be inconsistent with the envisaged urban air commuting.

In this regard, in Zhang Yangjun's view, driverless driving in the global aviation field entered a "unmanned area". He admits that China and foreign countries are not the same. At present, some technologies may lead abroad in China, but China has strong domestic demand -driven and good car electrification and intelligent technology foundation. This will help accelerate the formation of formation More comprehensive ecology.

Send 2022.9.12 Total Issue 1060 "China News Weekly" magazine

Magazine title: How far is the driverless "flying"?

Author: Xue Xuewei

Edit: Du Wei

Operation editor: Xiao Ran

- END -