Boeing’s Autonomous Cargo Drone Takes Flight

Boeing NeXt, the company’s disruptive mobility arm, has been focused on a global airspace integration effort to create a world in which autonomous and piloted air vehicles safely coexist. To create the transportation systems of the future, Boeing has been developing the Passenger Air Vehicle (PAV), and the Cargo Air Vehicle (CAV). Both are autonomous systems designed to fill a gap in the urban and regional mobility of currently available air systems. Just in January of 2019, the PAV completed its first test flight which can be seen here.

The Boeing CAV is 17.5 feet long (5.33 meters), 20 feet wide (6.1 meters) and 5 feet tall (1.52 meters), and weighs 1100 pounds. It is electrically powered by six pairs of counterrotating propellors expected to carry a maximum payload of 500 pounds. In a 2018 interview, Boeing CTO Greg Hyslop explained the Cargo Air Vehicle as a “convergence of technology in terms of hybrid-electric propulsion, vertical takeoff and landing, and autonomy that is going to unlock air travel in ways that we have not seen it before.”

To learn more about the technical specifications of Boeing’s CAV, visit the Hangar.

Earlier this week, Boeing completed its first test flight of the CAV in an outdoor environment, where the vehicle successfully took off, hovered, transitioned to forward flight and then landed safely. Until now, Boeing NeXt has been completing test flights of its propulsion system in controlled environments such as the Boeing Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing (V/STOL) Wind Tunnel in Ridley Park, PA. After a rigorous program of indoor testing, flight simulations and lab research, the eVTOL is now ready to move to the next stage. Boeing has plans to continue advancing the development of the CAV with test flights focused on forward flight, loads analysis and vehicle performance.

Why its important: Boeing shows great initiative in urban air mobility technologies with the in-house design and development of both the Passenger and Cargo Air Vehicles. Its venture arm, HorizonX, continues to search for partnerships and synergies within the industry to leverage the advancements that Boeing is making in this technology of the future.

Source // Boeing press release