{"id":14563,"date":"2020-01-09T19:21:30","date_gmt":"2020-01-09T19:21:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/?p=14563"},"modified":"2020-01-09T19:24:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T19:24:00","slug":"north-carolina-hosts-first-autonomous-air-taxi-demo-in-north-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/state-news\/north-carolina\/north-carolina-hosts-first-autonomous-air-taxi-demo-in-north-america\/%20","title":{"rendered":"North Carolina Hosts First Autonomous Air Taxi Demo in North America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

More than 100 spectators, including Governor Roy Cooper, Transportation\nSecretary Jim Trogdon, and Bobby Walston, Aviation Director, gathered in\nRaleigh on Tuesday to witness North America\u2019s first demonstration of an\nautonomous air taxi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper checks out the autonomous aircraft.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFlight started in North Carolina over 100 years ago,\u201d said\nTrogdon, whose agency hosted Tuesday\u2019s demonstration. \u201cSo, it is appropriate\nthe demonstration of this cutting-edge, disruptive technology takes place in\nNorth Carolina.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The autonomous aerial vehicle flew in front of a crowd\ngathered at the State Highway Patrol Facility\/Aviation Hangar in Raleigh. It\ntook nine months of work overall to make the flight happen, and according to\nNCDOT, they needed every day of it- approval didn\u2019t come until the morning of\nthe flight, and weather was a concern until minutes before takeoff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Bobby Walston and the EH 216.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur staff worked hard over the last few months to make this\na reality,\u201d said Walston. He and his aviation division staff had to first\nidentify a partner, who ended up being eHang, to provide an aircraft. Once that\nwas set, they started the long planning and permitting process – the event itself\nwas categorized as an air show, so they needed all the related safety measures\nlike fire department coverage and crowd control, as well as Federal Aviation\nAdministration (FAA) certifications and approvals. \u201cMaking aviation history\nisn\u2019t easy,\u201d said Walston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to FAA guidelines, Tuesday\u2019s demonstration flight was\nunmanned, but the EH 216 can carry two adult, non-pilots. The autonomous aerial\nvehicle is designed to function as a taxi service delivering people on\npre-programmed routes. The aircraft has been flown in other parts of the world,\nbut it has never been demonstrated for the public in North America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The demonstration flight took place at the
State Highway Patrol Facility\/Aviation Hangar in Raleigh, NC. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, the state helped launch the first-ever commercial\ndrone delivery service, shipping medical samples and supplies at Raleigh\u2019s\nWakeMed Hospital. The N.C. Department of Transportation has won numerous awards\nin recent years for its groundbreaking use of drones to expedite the response\nand recovery efforts during Hurricane Florence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flight demonstration came just before the 2020 North\nCarolina Transportation Summit, and brought together stakeholders to discuss\ntransportation safety, funding and new and disruptive technologies. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than 100 spectators, including Governor Roy Cooper, Transportation Secretary Jim Trogdon, and Bobby Walston, Aviation Director, gathered in Raleigh on Tuesday to witness North America\u2019s first demonstration of an autonomous air taxi. \u201cFlight started in North Carolina over 100 years ago,\u201d said Trogdon, whose agency hosted Tuesday\u2019s demonstration. \u201cSo, it is appropriate the demonstration […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[116,53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-front-page-slider","category-north-carolina"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_5638edit2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14563"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14570,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14563\/revisions\/14570"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateaviationjournal.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}