Airbus unveils its self flying 'Uber air' taxi: Vahana set to take to the skies by 2020 and can be summoned by smartphone

• Airbus is creating flying taxis called CityAirbus, and an autonomous helicopter under Project Vahana
• Aerospace group says passengers will be able to summon self-piloting flying taxi on their smartphone
• Prototype testing will begin in 2017 and Airbus hopes to have a model for sale on the market by 2020
• It seat one person under a canopy that retracts like a motorcycle helmet visor and operates like a helicopter

Sitting in bumper to bumper traffic during rush hour could soon be a thing of the past.
Airbus is working on a fleet of air taxis with the hopes of relieving urban congestion and the firm has unveiled its first conceptual renderings.
Called Vahana, this sleek self-flying aircraft seats one passenger under a canopy that retracts similar to a motorcycle helmet visor and the vehicle is designed to operate like a helicopter.

Airbus has been working on a fleet of air taxis with the hopes of relieving urban congestion and the firm has unveiled its first conceptual renderings. Called Vahana, this sleek self-flying aircraft seats one passenger under a canopy that retracts similar to a motorcycle helmet visor and is summoned like an Uber

Project Vahana began earlier this year and is one of the first projects at A³, the advanced projects and partnerships outpost of Airbus Group in Silicon Valley.
‘At Vahana, we are passionate about personal flight. The aircraft we’re building doesn’t need a runway, is self-piloted, and can automatically detect and avoid obstacles and other aircraft,’ A³ chief executive Rodin Lyasoff wrote on the Vahana website.
‘Designed to carry a single passenger or cargo, we’re aiming to make it the first certified passenger aircraft without a pilot.’
The conceptual renders suggest that the air taxis will take off and land vertically, as there are helicopter-like struts, and tilting wings each with four electric motors, reports CNN Money.
And there is space for one passenger, who will sit under a canopy that retracts like a motorcycle helmet visor.
The team at Vahana aims to have a full-sized prototype in the air by the end of 2017 and a model for sale on the market by 2020.
Airbus noted last year that one of Vahana's first projects will be working with Uber to create a new business model for helicopter operators.
The French firm first announced plans for its flying taxis in August, which they said will be CityAirbus and passengers will be able summon these vehicles with their smartphone.
Airbus said that the biggest challenge in creating the CityAirbus taxi, will be making it fly autonomously.
The taxi will first be operated by a pilot, but will become self-driving once national regulations allow it.

MEET VAHANA  
Project Vahana began earlier this year and is one of the first projects at A³, the advanced projects and partnerships outpost of Airbus Group in Silicon Valley.
The first conceptual renders have been revealed showing a sleek self-flying aircraft with room for one passenger who sits under a canopy that retracts similar to a motorcycle helmet visor.
Its also believed that the air taxis will take off and land vertically, as there are helicopter-like struts, and tilting wings each with four electric motors.
The team at Vahana aims to have a full-sized prototype in the air by the end of 2017 and a model on the market for sale by 2020.

'Many of the technologies needed, such as batteries, motors and avionics are most of the way there,' Rodin Lyasoff, the Airbus executive in charge of the project, said.
This is just starting to be introduced in cars, but no examples of it for aircraft currently exist.


Project Vahana began earlier this year and is one of the first projects at A³, the advanced projects and partnerships outpost of Airbus Group in Silicon Valley. There is space for one passenger, who will sit under a canopy that retracts like a motorcycle helmet visor

AIRBUS' PROJECT CITYAIRBUS: SELF-FLYING TAXIS THAT ARE SUMMONED LIKE UBERS
Airbus is designing a fleet of self-flying taxis called CityAirbus.
The taxis will first be operated by a pilot, but will fly themselves once national regulations allow it.
As well as flying taxis, Airbus is also creating an electric, autonomous helicopter in a project called Project Vahana.
The idea is that the helicopter can be used for both commercial and personal use.
In February, Airbus also announced a new project called 'Skyways' in which they are creating a parcel-delivery system above the University of Singapore campus.
Airbus hopes to conduct its first flight tests on the University of Singapore campus by 2017.

'That's one of the bigger challenges we aim to resolve as early as possible,' said Lyasoff.
The company thinks one way it could work would be for group vehicles, similar to car-sharing.
'We believe that global demand for this category of aircraft can support fleets of millions of vehicles worldwide,' Lyasoff said.
'In as little as ten years, we could have products on the market that revolutionise urban travel for millions of people.'

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The conceptual renders suggest that the air taxis will take off and land vertically, as there are helicopter-like struts, and tilting wings each with four electric motors

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The team at Vahana aims to have a full-sized prototype in the air by the end of 2017 and a model for sale on the market by 2020. Airbus noted last year that one of Vahana's first projects will be working with Uber to create a new business model for helicopter operators

Officially underway since February, the project’s team of internal and external developers and partners have agreed on a vehicle design and is beginning to build and test vehicle subsystems.

As well as flying taxis, Airbus is also creating an electric, autonomous helicopter in a plan called Project Vahana.

The idea is that the helicopter can be used for both commercial and personal use.

Airbus hopes to conduct its first flight tests on the University of Singapore campus by 2017.

Rodin Lyasoff, Airbus' lead engineer on Project Vahana, said: 'Many of the technologies needed, such as batteries, motors and avionics are most of the way there.'

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Traffic during rush-hour can be a nightmare for commuters today, and with 60 per cent of the world's population expected to live in cities by 2030, the problem is only going to grow. The French firm first announced plans for its flying taxis in August, which they said will be CityAirbus and passengers will be able summon these vehicles with their smartphone

While it might currently seem like something out of a science fiction film, Airbus CEO, Tom Enders, said: 'It's not crazy to imagine that one day our big cities will have flying cars making their way along roads in the sky.

'In a not too distant future, we'll use our smartphones to book a fully automated flying taxi that will land outside our front door – without any pilot.'

In February, Airbus also announced a new project called 'Skyways' in which they are creating a drone parcel-delivery system above the University of Singapore campus. 

The team hopes by demonstrating the safe operation of Skyways, this could help shape the regulatory framework for unmanned aircraft system operations, and potentially increase acceptance for passenger flight testing.

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In February, Airbus also announced a new project called 'Skyways' in which they are creating a parcel-delivery system above the University of Singapore campus. As well as flying taxis, Airbus is also creating an electric, autonomous helicopter in a plan called Project Vahana. The idea is that the helicopter can be used for both commercial and personal use

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Bangkok in Thailand is one of many cities which is notorious for huge traffic jams and delays getting from one place to another. However, by 2030, the population of Bangkok is set to hit 11.5 million which will further increase congestion. Airbus hopes to conduct its first flight tests on the University of Singapore campus by 2017

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The idea of flying taxis brings to mind, The Jetsons, who live in a futuristic utopia in the year 2062, filled with elaborate robotic contraptions, aliens, holograms, and whimsical inventions like their flying car (pictured)

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Ganymede, biggest moon in the solar system, has a saltwater ocean

NASA says new observations from the Hubble Space Telescope confirm the presence of a subsurface ocean on Jupiter's largest moon.

This artist's concept shows Ganymede in the shadow of Jupiter, with its aurorae glowing. NASA/ESA 

NASA says new observations from the Hubble Space Telescope confirm the existence of a salty subsurface ocean on Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system, which orbits our largest neighbor planet, Jupiter. The ocean is estimated to be about 60 miles thick -- 10 times deeper than the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Pacific -- but is buried under a layer of mostly icy crust 95 miles thick. Ganymede joins other neighborhood moons like Europa, the asteroid belt dwarf planet Ceres, and Saturn's Enceladus and Titan that host strange icy or liquid layers, making them prime targets in the search for life beyond Earth. Scientists have hypothesized for decades that Ganymede might harbor an icy or even liquid ocean beneath its frigid surface. The key to confirming the presence of a saltwater ocean came from observing Ganymede's aurorae, which would look bright red to a human able to stand on the surface of the moon and gaze up through its thin oxygen atmosphere. But don't get too excited, it's much too thin to support life as we know it.

Auroral phenomena -- think the bright northern lights of the aurora borealis or the aurora australis down south -- are not fully understood, but are linked to magnetic fields interacting with the solar wind. Ganymede is the only moon in the solar system that generates its own magnetic field thanks to its liquid iron core, but it also lies within the magnetic field of massive Jupiter. As Jupiter's magnetic field changes, it affects the aurorae on Ganymede, causing them to "rock back and forth" according to Joachim Saur, a professor for geophysics at the University of Cologne, who presented the news on a NASA teleconference Thursday.
Saur explained that the rocking effect seemed to be dampened by something else. Rather than altering the aurorae six degrees, as models suggested that they should given the electromagnetic fields involved, they only changed by two degrees, leading scientists to conclude that the rocking is inhibited by a salty subsurface ocean. "This confirms the existence of an ocean and simultaneously rules out the absence of an ocean," he told reporters. The news comes on the heels of the finding earlier this week that Saturn's moon Enceladus may contain enough warm water to support life. Ganymede will also now be more competitive when it comes to garnering attention among the Jovian moons -- its sibling Europa and its presumed subsurface ocean has long excited space geeks, even working its way into the priority list for future NASA missions. Looks like NASA may now need to add another moon to its itinerary for that deep-space journey.

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