Autonomous flight

EDAG Group has a long history of creating some of the wildest vehicle concepts out there, including a pop-up sports car camper. Now it's jumping into the next generation of mobility, building the structure for the production AIR One short-hop eVTOL.

At the Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo in Lakeland, Florida, Epic Aircraft has unveiled its high-performance personal and business aircraft, the E1000 AX, which can land itself at the touch of a button in an emergency. In fact, you don't even need the button.

Tickets for autonomous flights over two tourist spots in China should go on sale shortly. China's civil aviation authority has given the green light for EHang to begin low-altitude commercial operations with its EH216-S eVTOL.

Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sikorsky has successfully flown an electric-powered, 115-lb (52-kg) autonomous drone that uses what it calls a "rotor blown wing" to fly like both a helicopter and an airplane and can be scaled for larger airframes.

The age of the piloted fighter aircraft may not be over but the US Air Force has shown that it may be time to start collecting the coats, as it has designated two prototype combat drones as official combat aircraft.

If you've ever ridden in a car that can park itself at the push of a button, you'll appreciate the achievement of Skyryse, which has made a fully-conforming production helicopter that can hover with the swipe of a finger.

Lockheed Martin's famous-yet-secret Skunk Works is conducting live flight tests of its Smart Adaptive Flight Control Environment (SAFE) autonomous AI system on the X-62A. The system can be reconfigured in real time while the X-plane is still in the air.

Scientists have engineered a micro-aerial vehicle that has the potential to fly indefinitely in sunlight, using an electrostatic motor to power its ultra-lightweight unit. Until now, these tiny drones have been limited to around 30 minutes of airtime.

A supersonic drone that will be propelled by a revolutionary new engine has taken to the skies for the first time. When Venus Aerospace's aircraft does go supersonic on a later date, it will be powered by a Rotating Detonation Rocket Engine (RDRE).

How hard could it be to fly a helicopter if the controls consisted of just one stick and two touchscreens? That's exactly what the case is with the recently announced Skyryse One, which could be yours for just shy of $2 million.

In order for cargo drones to be widely adopted, it helps if they're compatible with the shipping infrastructure. The creators of the Orca drone have kept that in mind, as their aircraft will take payloads stacked on standard-size shipping pallets.

Aerospace company Silent Arrow has been awarded a contract by the Air Force Research Laboratory's innovation arm AFWERX to develop a heavy payload, long-range motorized version of its GD-2000 glider drone capable of flying 300 nm (350 mi, 560 km).