Autonomous Flight
About
About Autonomous Flight
Y6S Plus is a six-seat electric aircraft using six distributed rotors for vertical take-off, landing and forward flight. A carbon-composite structure and electric propulsion system are designed around short regional journeys without runway infrastructure.
The aircraft uses triple-redundant flight controls and targets a cruise speed of roughly 125 miles per hour and range around 80 miles. Autonomous Flight is developing the vehicle and its control architecture together, positioning Y6S Plus for passenger transport between cities, airports and other locations that can support compact vertiports.
Products
- Y6S Plus
Y6S aircraft family
Funding
- 2021-04-26 - Series A - Autonomous Flight raises £5M Series A for eVTOL development
Autonomous Flight raised £5 million, reported at about $7 million, in a Series A financing announced on 26 April 2021. - source: uktech.news
Team
- Martin Warner - Founder and Non-Executive Chairman
Timeline
Events
- 2022-01-04 - Market Signal - Autonomous Flight announces Y6S Plus order-book opening
Autonomous Flight opened the order book for its six-seat battery-electric Y6S Plus concept. The aircraft was presented with a 125 mph target speed and an 80-mile target range. The company targeted initial assembly in 2023 and customer deliveries from 2024.
Source - 2021-04-26 - Funding - Autonomous Flight raises £5M Series A for eVTOL development
The Series A provided £5 million, reported at about $7 million. The financing supported development of the Y6S family of battery-electric vertical-take-off-and-landing aircraft. The round followed the company's full-scale prototype work and preceded its Y6S Plus order-book campaign.
Source - 2021-01-13 - Product Launch - Autonomous Flight unveils six-seat Y6S Plus eVTOL concept
The Y6S Plus used a tricopter layout with two tilting coaxial front rotors and a third coaxial rotor behind the main wing. The company targeted a 200 km/h cruise speed and roughly 130 km of range from swappable lithium battery packs. The larger six-seat cabin was positioned for scheduled point-to-point shuttle services rather than immediate on-demand air-taxi operations.
Source - 2019-02-22 - Demonstration - Autonomous Flight demonstrates powered Y6S development prototype
The development prototype powered its fans and rotated the front rotor shrouds to demonstrate the planned transition mechanism on the ground. The full-scale airframe represented the two-seat Y6S configuration while the company prepared financing for a flyable prototype. The demonstrator translated the Y6S tiltrotor layout into a full-scale physical airframe.
Source