Airbus tests autonomous air-taxi in sky over Oregon

PENDLETON, Ore. - In Sanskrit, Vahana means "that which carries, that which pulls."

In Oregon, Vahana's eight electric motors hope to carry the future.

There's no human at the controls of the prototype single-seat autonomous air-taxi as it takes off vertically, like a helicopter

The battery powered aircraft hits speeds over 100 miles an hour, and can fly up to 35 miles.

"We do think that over time people will get used to it," says Vahana project manager Herve Hilaire when asked if people will want to fly in a contraption that has no pilot.

Buzzing over rural Oregon, it could be the answer to urban gridlock simply flying over the traffic jam.

But convincing the public might be a challenge.

"I think it's really a first chapter thing," Hilaire says, "where you want to demonstrate perfect safety and real added-value for the customer. And this is really about saving time in a convenient and safe way."

Plane maker Airbus' silicon valley incubator "A Cubed" took Vahana from a sketch to flight testing in less two years, using materials already commercially available.

"We've been working on showing that we can execute a safe test flight from takeoff through transition to over 100 mph and return safely to the ground," says Madd Deal, head of test flight at Vahana.

Right now the test flights aren't very long; they only last a few minutes at a time. One of the challenges will be developing better, lighter batteries that let them fly farther and longer.

Earlier this year, Boeing's prototype took its first flight.

At this month's Uber Elevate conference nearly a dozen flying car concepts were on display, including helicopter maker Bell's full size but non-flying Nexus demonstrator.

It seats four passengers and aims to enter customer service by the mid 2020s flying at 150 miles an hour for up to 150 miles.

For a time it will have a human operator on-board before going fully autonomous.

"A lot of us grew up watching the Jetsons and thought that was far-fetched," says Nexus project manager Chad Stecker.

Acting FAA administrator Dan Elwell says its too early to talk about timelines: "We're all about gathering data to assure us of the safety for these vehicles. Unmanned is a much, much higher bar than a piloted vehicle for sure and we have a ways to go."

Regulations and a system to manage increasingly crowded airspace still need to be developed.

For Airbus, Vahana is a bit like a first draft; it'll be up to future models to prove they can safely fly passengers.

It will be years before people are flying in an autonomous air taxi but already a company in London is buying up rooftop space for landing pads so they'll be ready when the technology is set to take off.