<
https://theconversation.com/flying-taxis-and-delivery-drones-could-soon-crowd-city-skies-what-happens-when-they-fail-284831>
"It was clear that something had gone seriously wrong with the thousand-strong
swarm of drones twinkling above Darling Harbour during the Vivid Sydney
festival last month. Many suddenly started flying out of formation. Almost 90
fell from the sky and into the dark water below.
Thankfully no one was injured. Yet the drone show failure, which has been
blamed on radio interference, highlighted a challenge facing all autonomous
aircraft: what happens when things go wrong?
This is an important question, given autonomous air taxis that fly passengers
above traffic and autonomous drones that deliver packages across cities could
become a familiar sight within the next decade. In the United States, for
example, drone delivery company Wing recently announced it is expanding its
partnership with Walmart across seven more cities.
These technologies will occasionally experience failures. But an aircraft
cannot simply pull over to the side of the road. So safety depends not only on
preventing failures but on ensuring aircraft can respond safely when they
occur."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
