According to a press release, Austria-based Company CycloTech has successfully completed the first test flight of its distinctive eVTOL flying taxi prototype design.
The flying taxi prototype is a 176-pound (83-kg) demonstrator with Voith-Schneider rotors instead of the traditional propellers used in many existing multi-rotor designs.
The company claims that this unique feature gives its eVTOL plane greater agility and control in the air than other flying taxi designs.
The statement read “after months of intensive testing, the development team of CycloTech was able to conduct the first free flight with a technology demonstrator, which resulted in a huge success and proof for the CycloRotor technology.”
The development team successfully completed its maiden free flight and landing utilising the CycloRotor technology on August 20, 2021. This is a significant advancement in cyclogyro rotor technology, said the company, especially since the technology demonstrator, which weighs 83 kilogrammes, looks like a descaled 5-seater air taxi system. This achievement, as well as the dedication of the entire development team, took us one step closer to vertical mobility.
The CycloRotor eVTOL is also the closest thing we’ve yet seen to a flying car that actually looks like a car, thanks to its wheel-like rotors. Each propeller consists of a rotating cylindrical tube with wing blades. According to a 2020 New Atlas story, the prop concept was copyrighted about 100 years ago, but it was never used in a plane until now.
Unlike most traditional eVTOL planes, which must transition from vertical to ordinary flight mode for take-off and landing, the CycloRotor eVTOL’s propulsion technology gives it more freedom of motion, allowing it to fly in any direction quickly. The angle of the CycloRotor’s blades is changed throughout flight, similar to a helicopter’s propulsion system, allowing it to instantly redirect thrust in any direction along its rotational axis.