Aircraft

Pulse eVTOL concept drops its cabin onto an autonomous car chassis

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The EmbraerX Pulse features a stylish glassed-over cabin that slots into both electric car and eVTOL bodies for seamless multi-mode end-to-end transport
EmbraerX
The EmbraerX Pulse features a stylish glassed-over cabin that slots into both electric car and eVTOL bodies for seamless multi-mode end-to-end transport
EmbraerX
The airframe drops the passenger pod off onto a self-driving electric car chassis for relatively seamless last-mile transport
EmbraerX
Handover simply requires the car chassis and aircraft to meet nose to nose
EmbraerX
Because of course this thing would by flying over Monaco
EmbraerX
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Here's one we missed from several months ago: Brazilian eVTOL innovator EmbraerX put forth a fun video showing how a multi-mode 3D transport system might work, with an eVTOL air taxi carrying a detachable glassed-over cabin that it delivers straight onto a self-driving car chassis.

The coming new breed of eVTOL air taxis are nearly all, at this stage, designed to work as part of a multi-mode transport scheme. The flying taxis themselves will travel from skyport to skyport, meaning you'll need other means to get yourself to the takeoff point and something else again at the other end for the last mile. It's simply not practical to expect eVTOLs to drop you off right at your destination.

Companies like Uber are salivating at the thought of being able to offer the whole service as a single sale, co-ordinating a car at each end to minimize travel time, but that starts looking like a bit of an annoyance when you consider the hope is that people will use these things for the daily commute. Four taxis and two eVTOLs every day is a pain.

And so we get this concept from Embraer's flying taxi division EmbraerX. The Pulse system has a single, shared, glassed-over luxury cabin that can click into an eVTOL airframe or clip onto a skateboard electric car chassis, something like what REE makes.

The airframe drops the passenger pod off onto a self-driving electric car chassis for relatively seamless last-mile transport
EmbraerX

Everything is autopiloted; passengers selects a destination, and a self-driving car comes to pick them up. The car drives to a skyport, disgorges the cabin into the airframe, it flies off and is met by another car chassis as it touches down at the next skyport. The cabin clips to the chassis, which has its own power source and locomotion capabilities, and the cabin is then autonomously driven to the final street destination without the passengers having to get in and out and mess about.

This is, of course, blue-sky thinking. Many problems need to be solved before it becomes anything close to reality. For starters, there's not a single eVTOL air taxi service in operation as yet, although things are certainly heating up in that space. This concept needs those up and running with autonomous piloting abilities, as well as a functional self-driving car network on the ground.

That's without thinking about the enormous additional challenges of super-precision positioning for the handoffs, as well as the engineering challenges and added weight of a detachable cabin, and the logistical questions around how exactly EmbraerX thinks it might be able to put enough of these cabins in the right place when everyone's traveling toward the city in the morning and away at night. There could be a lot of empty cabin trips involved.

At this stage, it's just a fun CAD render video with a bit of cheesy acting thrown in for laughs. And EmbraerX has other plans that might actually see it participate in the embryonic stages of the eVTOL market.

Don't expect this one to happen – not soon, and not ever looking like this. But it's a valid contribution to the discussion about where things might get to as autopilot eVTOL, autonomous car and skateboard chassis technologies begin to merge, decades in the future. Enjoy the video below.

Source: EmbraerX

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8 comments
Towerman
Airbus also have the same concept with a nice video too, i liked that one.

Anyway this also looks nice, automation can be overcome easily by having pilots fly it if necessary in control towers, like is already happening with UAV flights. And the driving part could be filled with taxi drivers if automation is not plausible.

Definitely do-able, and certainly desirable, well what are we waiting for ! ! !
Username
Wholly vaporware! This video has the same substance as a Jetsons' episode!
Douglas Bennett Rogers
This looks more like a connection service for the aerospace plane than a commuter service. Your average passenger is hand carrying an EMP detonator program and the like.
WB
they didnt even have the money to not make this look like some CG first year student created it.. that's how much they buy this vision themselves...
Towerman
What a bunch of air headed comments, it is completely do-able, you have to be really flat earthed to not see how easy this could be done, Airbus themselves led the way ! ! !
MQ
Thanks Loz, we all love these BS concept vids.

The Jetsons age is here, all for want of self sustaining cheap fusion power, will keep working at it.
MQ
oh BTW we already have VTOL "Air Taxis" - much more efficient than multirotor units and have a working business model.

They are called Helicopters - only "economic" for the 1%-ers.

Remember the article from ?last week? giving a realistic energy budget for eVTOL package delivery at 10x the energy needed compared to current methods.
Mace
It is better than Terrafugia's attempts to come up with a 2-in-1 flying car, with which you always have to carry the full weight of both components. Mark you, those were MIT guys who worked on the concept. They were bought three years ago by Geely. A modular system is best. But Embraer's concept may look fancy and glamorous, but it is a far cry from a viable one. Best one is this: https://newatlas.com/aircraft/volocopter-most-powerful-flying-taxi/