The Chinese dronemaker Ehang, looking to distinguish itself from the crowd (and rival drone giant DJI), has a new product that brings autonomous driving tech and drones together. It is a single seat, self-driving quadcopter called the Ehang 184. It looks like an oversized drone with a cockpit stuffed in the middle, a flying analog to the 1,000-horsepower autonomous concept beast that Faraday Future unveiled on Monday night.A drone that can transport humans has been given the go ahead to carry out trials in the US.The Ehang 184, which was first unveiled at CES 2016, is a small, personal helicopter that can transport a single passenger. Rather than one large rotor above the body, the “taxi drone” has four rotors underneath the body, resembling a remote control drone. Ehang will start running tests in Las Vegas later this year in the hope that it could eventually be used as part of the state’s transport system, according to a local publication. To fly the Ehang 184, all the passenger needs to do is enter their destination into an app on their phone. The drone is then able to navigate the route and avoid obstacles. It can’t fly directly to any destination, but hops from one Ehang landing spot to another.
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