Hybrid Electric Autonomous Cargo Aircraft Introduced

One of the areas where autonomous vehicles will be more involved in our lives in the future is ‘cargo carrying vehicles’. The most recent example is the newly introduced autonomous cargo plane Chaparal.

Studies have been carried out for a while on autonomous cargo delivery, which has become even more important with the pandemic. Currently, cargo companies such as Zipline and Wing perform autonomous cargo distribution with drones; however, these companies can only focus on certain sizes of cargo due to the size of the drones. a new autonomous hybrid electric drone system, on the other hand, aims to ensure the delivery of larger cargoes.

The initiative named Elroy Air, which aims to deliver cargo with an autonomous hybrid electric aircraft system, ‘Chaparral’ introduced his vehicle. By Clint Cope, co-founder of Elroy Air a drone with a design between a small airplane and a helicopter defined as Chaparral; It is recorded that it can hover with eight vertical fans and take flight with four rotating propellers.

The Chaparral is expected to be an important logistical link for people living in remote and hard-to-reach parts of the world.

It is stated that the distribution of the products on the plane to the addresses or the pick-up from the addresses takes place autonomously from a compartment located at the bottom of the vehicle. 300 miles of the vehicle, so 482 km range and 136 to 226 kg includes cargo capacity. The fact that the Chaparral has been designed to fit into a standard 40-foot shipping container makes it very easy to transport and deploy around the world. easy means it is.

Cope, Chaparral is for people in remote and rural areas with dangerous roads around the world, places that currently take longer to reach a vital logistical link means it will. On the other hand, the fact that there will be no people on the planes means that the risk of possible loss of life is out of the equation.

chaparral

In addition, the rapid deployment of the Chaparral, especially on rough terrain; to the vehicle military and emergency aid further increase their interest. Elroy received funding from the US Air Force; It is reported that it has received 100 new vehicle orders from AYR Logistics, a company that works with aid groups such as the United Nations (UN) and the World Food Program (WFP).

A prototype of the autonomous hybrid aircraft was previously first showcased in 2019; but since then the design of the vehicle has been further developed.

Here is the video of the prototype in 2019:

While technology is increasingly providing possibilities for this and similar drone delivery systems, it is not yet clear whether these systems will be long-term due to the high cost of development and distribution.

Source :
https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/26/22902351/elroy-air-chaparral-autonomous-vtol-electric-hybrid-cargo-plane


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