An American aerospace company, Bell has confirmed the ‘Autonomous Pod Transport’ (APT 70) drone has completed successful test flights.
Bell’s APT 70 is the first of an all new electronic vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) family of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) the company is developing. It can reach speeds of over 100mph (160KPH if you’re outside the UK) and has a payload capability of over 30 kilograms. I’ll have to shed a few stone before it can carry me and they aren’t going to win any design awards for it for sure. It kind of looks like a huge DJI Inspire that someone has chopped in to pieces and glued back together!
The successful first autonomous flight of the Drone named APT 70 took place at a company testing site near Fort Worth in the United Staes. Bell says it plans further testing under an ‘experimental type certificate’ from the FAA in the States throughout the rest of 2019. It is not conformed yet when this might land in the UK.
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