Airbus is developing an autonomous flying vehicle platform for single-passenger and cargo transport.

Project Vahana's team of internal and external developers and partners has agreed on a vehicle design and is beginning to build and test vehicle subsystems. Flight tests of the first vehicle prototype are slated for the end of 2017, the company says.

Artist’s impression of the multi-propeller CityAirbus vehicle. Image credit: Airbus.“Many of the technologies needed, such as batteries, motors and avionics, are most of the way there,” says Rodin Lyasoff, project executive at A3, Airbus' Silicon Valley innovation outpost. Still others, such as reliable sense-and-avoid technologies, remain to be developed, he adds.

Transport service providers are one potential market for such vehicles, the company notes. The system would operate similarly to car-sharing applications, with the use of smartphones to book a vehicle.

Lyasoff says that potential global demand for such an aircraft could support fleets of "millions of vehicles worldwide,” at which point development, certification and manufacturing costs would decrease markedly. Airbus hopes to have its product on the market within the next decade.

Separately, the company announced that developers at Airbus Helicopters in France and Germany have been working for two years on an electrically operated platform concept for multiple passengers. The aerial vehicle, which goes by the working title of CityAirbus, would have multiple propellers and resemble a drone in its basic design.

While initially it would be operated by a pilot—similar to a helicopter—to allow for quick entry into the market, it would switch over to fully autonomous operation once regulations are in place. Customers would use an app to book a seat on a CityAirbus and board at the nearest helipad.