Startup Kitty Hawk unveiled their autonomous flying taxi, called Cora. Designed to be a self-piloted, electric-powered, passenger-carrying drone service, the business model is hardly new, but their approach to the technology is. They’re combining a traditional aircraft with pusher prop and wings, with a multi-rotor (12, to be precise) drone-like configuration for vertical thrust, allowing true vertical takeoffs and landings. No word on when you’ll be able to get a ride in one, but considering they have a flying prototype and financial backing from Larry Page, it’s a matter of getting the software right, and finding a way to certify this for use in the various countries (they’re starting out in New Zealand for precisely that reason, the country is more business-friendly for technologies like this).
As a quick side note…if you check out their website, note they did something clever with the scrolling..you scroll UP, not down like every other page on the internet. Nice tie-in with their technology and slogan (“things are looking up”).