Bell Textron Inc announced recently the successful flight of the Bell Autonomous Pod Transport (APT) 70 as part of a joint flight demonstration with NASA.
The objective of Bell’s SIO demonstration was to execute a Beyond Visual Line-of-Sight (BVLOS) mission in an urban environment transitioning into and out of Class B airspace representing future commercial flights.
It is envisioned that in the future, an operational APT 70 could provide efficient, rapid and dependable transport for payloads up to 70lbs. The APT 70 is estimated to move three times as fast as ground transportation. The vehicle is capable of autonomous flight, automatically flying a programmed flight route and handling an array of contingency functions. Potential uses for the APT 70 include medical deliveries, third-party logistics, offshore delivery, humanitarian relief and many more.
