Airbus' self-flying car successfully completes its first test

Airbus announced that it has successfully completed testing of Vahana, an electric, pilotless flying vehicle that it hopes will be able to ferry people around cities.

The vehicle dubbed Alpha One reached a height of 5 meters (16 feet) before descending safely. The first flight, with a duration of 53 seconds, was fully self-piloted and the vehicle completed the second flight the following day. The test flights took place at the Pendleton Unmanned Aerial Systems Range in Oregon.

Airbus said, " Vahana aims to democratize personal flight and answer the growing need for urban mobility by leveraging the latest technologies in electric propulsion, energy storage, and machine vision." The aircraft, which Airbus has been developing for less than two years, is designed to carry one passenger and fly autonomously.

The self-piloted aircraft is 20.3 ft (6.2 m) wide, 18.7 ft (5.7 m) long, 9.2 ft (2.8 m) tall and has a takeoff weight of 1,642 lb (745 kg). Airbus hopes to have the commercial version of the self-flying car ready by 2020.