Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Saturday 1 June 2019
Hydrogen-power electric flying vehicle: Long road to liftoff

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER Drone-like vehicles such
Associated Press as the Skai must first simply
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A prove their airworthiness,
transportation company like any common plane,
is betting its sleek new hy- Lightfoot said. After that,
drogen-powered electric getting commercial certi-
flying vehicles will someday fication is another convo-
serve as taxis, cargo carri- luted process, he said.
ers and ambulances of the “The technology is inter-
sky, but experts say they will esting, but the regulatory
have to clear a number of road will be very long,” said
regulatory hurdles before Lightfoot, adding that the
being approved for takeoff idea of allowing people to
years in the future. fly in a large aircraft without
With six rotors on the roof a pilot is “well outside the
and seats inside for five current regulatory regime.”
people, a passenger mod- Hanvey conceded that it
el of the Skai (pronounced could take at least a de-
“sky”) unveiled Wednesday cade before the company
near Los Angeles resembles realizes his vision of a fleet
an oversized drone crossed of electric flying vehicles
with a luxury SUV. ferrying passengers over
Like a drone, the vehicle major cities at nearly 120
from Alaka’i Technologies This Tuesday, May 28, 2019, photo shows the Skai vehicle, developed by Alaka’i Technologies in mph. Before that, he hopes
takes off and lands verti- Newbury Park, Calif. to see Skai aircraft used
cally. It’s one of many simi- Associated Press by first responders to send
lar electric flying crafts in miles (644 kilometers) and a test flight near its Massa- Thaddeus Lightfoot, a part- in food or water following
production, including pro- the capacity to carry 1,000 chusetts headquarters. ner with the firm Dorsey & disasters like hurricanes or
totypes from Boeing and pounds (454 kilograms) in It would be flown by an on- Whitney who helps compa- wildfires that can destroy
Airbus that made success- people or freight, the com- board pilot using a pair of nies navigate FAA rules. infrastructure.
ful test flights this year, ac- pany says. joysticks, but the technol- Regulators are still grap- It could be used as an am-
cording to Vertical Flight “We just couldn’t get to the ogy exists to eventually fly it pling with the proliferation bulance and to evacuate
Society, an industry group. point where we could have remotely and even auton- of smaller drones — those people, Hanvey said. Out-
Most are powered by bat- enough batteries to get to omously, Hanvey said. under about 50 pounds fitted with a transmitter, one
teries, which can add a lot the payload that we knew It will be years before the flown by hobbyists and could serve as a mobile cell
of weight. The Skai instead we needed,” CEO Stephan Federal Aviation Adminis- filmmakers. The FAA just tower, hovering for up to 10
uses very light hydrogen Hanvey said of the choice tration allows the autono- this year eased restrictions hours over a neighborhood
fuel cells to run its rotors, to switch to hydrogen pow- mous flight of passenger on flying small drones over to provide communication
giving it a range of 400 er. Alaka’i says it’s planning vehicles, said attorney crowds and at night. services, he said.q

Cuba legalizes private Wi-Fi, importation of routers

By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN scratch-off cards bought become legal. Cubans
Associated Press from the government for also will be able to bring in
HAVANA (AP) — Cuba an- several dollars per hour of antennas and routers after
nounced Wednesday that internet. That cost has de- requesting a permit on-
it is legalizing private Wi-Fi clined to $1 an hour. line, a process supposed to
networks and the importa- In order to enjoy the inter- take 30 days. What’s more,
tion of equipment like rout- net at home, Cubans smug- the homemade house-
ers, eliminating one of the gled in powerful antennas to-house networks will be
world’s tightest restrictions that picked up the signal able to legally connect to
on internet use. from nearby government the government internet,
The measure announced routers and piped into their spreading connectivity to
by state media provides bedrooms and living rooms. thousands of homes that
a legal status to thou- They still needed govern- don’t have it. Cuba began
sands of Cubans who cre- ment scratch-off cards to offering home internet ser-
ated homemade digital In this Jan. 6, 2017 photo Roberto Carlos Villamar uses his laptop access the internet itself. vice over phone lines last
networks with smuggled on the new experimental internet in the living room of his home Cubans also created their year but the service has
equipment that was illegal in Havana, Cuba. own networks of thousands been slow to spread out-
but generally tolerated by Associated Press of computers connected side a still-limited number
authorities in recent years. ers, it does not loosen state that will be enforced. Un- to each other with cables of neighborhoods. Cuba
It also appears to allow pri- control of the internet itself. til 2015, the only legal in- strung from home to home, also began offering mobile
vate businesses to provide Cuba’s telecoms monopo- ternet on the island could mostly for competitive internet service last year,
internet to customers, the ly, Etecsa, remains the only be found in government game-playing. They were a service that has spread
potential start in Cuba of internet provider on the is- computer centers and ho- not allowed to be con- much faster.
internet cafes, so far virtu- land. The new rules go into tels frequented mostly by nected to the internet, al- While equipment owners
ally unknown here. effect on July 29. tourists. That changed with though many had at least will be free to share their
While the new regulation The government says op- the activation of dozens of some points of connection. Wi-Fi signal, their own ac-
permits citizens to con- erators of private net- government routers mount- Those networks were large- cess to the internet itself will
nect to the internet with works will not be allowed ed in parks and on street ly tolerated but subject to still require access through
their own equipment and to charge for the service, corners. Cubans could occasional searches and a government scratch-off
share the signal with oth- although it is unclear how log on to the routers with confiscation. All will now card.q