An automated pilotless air ambulance system. The system includes an air vehicle (AV) having a fuselage coupled to a stretcher for carrying a patient. The system is configured to fly the patient from a point of injury to a medical treatment facility. The system also has a plurality of air lift motors for vertically lifting the air vehicle. The system further includes a plurality of air-lift motors coupled to the fuselage forming a low profile. The air lift motors are centralized motors or de-centralized motors for vertically lifting the AV. The system also has an automated life support and monitoring patient suite having a plurality of life support and monitoring devices, including medical supplies. The system additionally has a bidirectional datalink coupled to the air vehicle for executing various functions such as communicating with a patient's or a first responder's mobile device.

An exchange station has openings for drones, a passenger check-in/check-out bay for processing passengers, a drone connect/release bay, having apparatus adapted to manage passenger pods mounted on smart chassis, and a computerized control system in wireless communication with control circuitry in the drones and smart chassis, guiding smart chassis with mounted passenger pods and drones, to make the exchange of pods from the smart chassis to drones. A passenger entering the passenger check-in bay is loaded into a pod mounted on a smart chassis, the pod with passenger is transported to the drone-connect/release bay, and the pod is there joined to a bare drone and disconnected from the smart chassis, the drone leaving with the passenger pod to a destination, and the smart chassis traveling away from the drone connect-release bay.

Techniques and architecture are disclosed for a multirotor vehicle having a rotor assembly with a plurality of rotors to provide upward thrust. Attached to the rotor assembly is a frame that includes a frame extension having a first end pivotally attached to the rotor assembly. The extension also includes a second end pivotally attached to a frame body. The vehicle further includes first and second actuators. The first actuator pivots the rotor assembly to position it within a horizontal plane to allow thrust generated by the rotor assembly to lift the vehicle. The second actuator pivots the rotor assembly within the horizontal plane so that thrust generated by the rotor assembly lifts the vehicle. The vehicle also includes a harness connected to the frame and configured to secure an operator's torso to the multirotor vehicle.

In some embodiments, a pod assembly transportation system includes a transportation services provider computing system and a plurality of flying frame flight control systems, wherein the system is configured to receive, at the transportation services provider computing system, a request for transportation of a pod assembly; upload a flight plan to a flight control system of a flying frame including an airframe and a distributed propulsion system coupled to airframe; dispatch the flying frame by air to the current location of the pod assembly; couple the pod assembly to the flying frame; transport the pod assembly by air from the current location of the pod assembly to the destination of the pod assembly including transitioning the flying frame between a vertical takeoff and landing mode and a forward flight mode; and decouple the pod assembly from the flying frame at the destination of the pod assembly.

The invention refers to an autonomous aviation module, equipped with one or multiple electrically powered propeller engines, capable of vertical take off and landing (VTOL), with electrical energy delivered through a system of wires along the device's flight path, employing autonomous flight technology and operated by a central control center.

An inter-floor transport system includes an aerial vehicle configured to move vertically and horizontally along a passage and a power assembly including a power supply adjacent to the passage and a guide cable extending along the passage and connected to the power supply, where the aerial vehicle is configured to receive power through the guide cable without contacting the guide cable.

An aircraft includes a fuselage that includes a nose portion, a cabin portion, an underwing portion, and an aft portion. The nose portion includes sensors that generate sensor data. The cabin portion is aft of the nose portion and includes a passenger cabin. The underwing portion is aft of the cabin portion and includes a wing attachment region and a battery bay. The aft portion is aft of the underwing portion. A wing assembly including motor mounts and control surfaces is attached to the wing attachment region such that the underwing portion of the fuselage is located under the wing assembly. A tail assembly is attached to the aft portion. The electric motors are attached to motor mounts such that the propellers are in a pusher configuration facing rearward. An autonomous control system controls the electric motors and control surfaces based on the sensor data.

A flying vehicle that is compact and portable and can be carried over the roof rack of a passenger car. The flying vehicle includes an upper chassis and a lower chassis removably mounted to the upper chassis. The lower chassis is positioned below the upper chassis. Eight rotors, a battery pack, and a control unit are mounted to the upper chassis. A seat for the rider is mounted to the lower chassis directly below the battery pack. Such a position of the seat allows a rider to egress from the vehicle safely without requiring the vehicle to land and turn off the rotors.

A transport system has a first set of substantially parallel rails supported above ground level by support structures, a trolley having wheels mounted to a frame with the wheels engaging the rails, at least one wheel powered to move the trolley along the set of rails, a portion of the frame depending between the rails to a level below the rails, and a downward-facing latching interface on the depending portion of the frame, and a pod enabled to carry a passenger or parcels, or both, engaged by an upward-facing latching interface to the downward-facing latching interface of the trolley, such that, as the trolley travels along the rail set, the pod is carried along below the rail set.

Systems, methods, and devices provide a vehicle, such as an aircraft, with rotors configured to function as a tri-copter for vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and a fixed-wing vehicle for forward flight. One rotor may be mounted at a front of the vehicle fuselage on a hinged structure controlled by an actuator to tilt from horizontal to vertical positions. Two additional rotors may be mounted on the horizontal surface of the vehicle tail structure with rotor axes oriented vertically to the fuselage. For forward flight of the vehicle, the front rotor may be rotated down such that the front rotor axis may be oriented horizontally along the fuselage and the front rotor may act as a propeller. For vertical flight, the front rotor may be rotated up such that the front rotor axis may be oriented vertically to the fuselage, while the tail rotors may be activated.