Off-Beat-News
Boeing betting big on automating flying machines─── 07:12 Sun, 08 Oct 2017
Boeing is betting big on automating flying machines.
CNN reports the aerospace giant is buying Aurora Flight Sciences, a maker of automated drones and aviation parts, in a bid to bring increased automation to airliners, military drones and even personal air taxis.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the acquisition is the clearest signal yet that the planet's largest plane maker sees automation as the future of aviation.
The acquisition also gives Boeing a seat at the table in the race to develop electric air taxis.
Aurora in April made the first flight of its own air-taxi prototype, the XV-24A, designed as part of Uber's Elevate programme to add on-demand air taxis to its ride-sharing product.
Acquiring the technology may be the easy part.
Convincing the public that autonomous aircraft are safe, looks to be more difficult. Only 17% of flyers said they would fly on a pilotless aircraft, according to a recent UBS study.
CNN
