Airbus is aspiring to develop unmanned aerial vehicles

The European aerospace giant is developing an ambitious project in Silicon Valley called the Vahana - unmanned aerial vehicle.

According to CNN, Vahana can take off and land vertically. The aircraft has helicopter-like struts, two tilting wings with four electric motors on each shaft.

The development of Vahana belongs to the A3 unit of the business. This unit is officially in operation this year, located in the city of San Jose - the heart of the California technology community. The project is implemented with a commitment of $ 150 million.

Airbus developed Vahana with the use of a taxi flying in the future. (Photo: CNN).

"The aircraft we are building does not need a runway, it can drive itself and it can detect and avoid obstacles or other planes," said A3 CEO Rodin Lyasoff.

"Designed to carry a customer or cargo, we are aiming to make it the first non-pilot airliner," he said.

The project expects full-size prototype to be launched by the end of 2017 and launch its first product in the market by 2020. However, aircraft need to meet many standards.

Airbus is not the only pillar in the manufacturing industry involved in exploring new mobile areas. Car manufacturers such as Toyota and Honda also invade the field of aviation. Honda develops its first privately owned aircraft in 2015, after three decades of development of new aerospace technology.

Last year, Airbus announced that one of Vahana's first projects could work with Uber to demonstrate a new business model for helicopter operators. NASA is also working on the development of an electric propulsion engine and an X-57 custom engineered business plan in 2018.

Of course, unmanned taxi raises some concerns about safety issues. Airbus says the technology that determines obstacles and avoidance will be used to prevent potential collisions. In addition, the company also prepared in the design, in case the aircraft engine malfunction.