Chennai startup unveils 'Asia's first' concept flying car, aviation minister reviews model

Chennai: A Chennai-based startup has introduced the concept model of a hybrid flying car. The model of the flying car was reviewed by Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Monday.

Taking to Twitter, Jyotiraditya Scindia said that he was delighted to have been introduced to the concept model which would soon become "Asia's first hybrid flying car".

"Once this takes off, flying cars would be used for transporting people & cargo, as well as for providing medical emergency services. My best wishes to the team", tweeted Jyotiraditya Scindia.

The hybrid car model, Vinata, has been developed by Vinata Aeromobility. The startup's CEO Yogesh Iyer said the name was chosen after deep research and it means 'mother of all birds'.

"Vinata comes from ancient myth. We are working with the a flying car so we researched a lot and decided with Vinata which means mother of birds, to be precise, Garuda's mother", Yogesh Iyer said.

The flying car concept is expected to turn into a prototype within the next two years. As for specifications, the flying car will have eight coaxial rotors and a hybrid motor running on biofuel and battery.

The kerb weight is estimated to be 900 kilos with a load capacity of 250 kilos, traveling at 120km/hr speed for 60 minutes.

"This is going to be a two seater and will run on biofuel with VTOL (Verticial takeoff and landing) capability. You can land it anywhere and take-off", said Yogesh Iyer.

Yogesh also stated that the recent drone policies of 2021 was very encouraging which can make India a drone hub.

23/09/21 Pramod Madhav/India Today

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India’s first flying car introduced by Civil Aviation Minister: Official unveil in October

The future may keep the skylines of the cities busy buzzing with personal flying vehicles. While the development of flying vehicles is still at an intermediate stage, an Indian start-up based in Chennai has built Asia’s first flying car. The flying car will be introduced to the world by Civil Aviation Minister.

Vinata Aeromonility, a start-up based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu will unveil its first-ever autonomous hybrid flying car on a global stage. Vinata will unveil the vehicle in London at one of the most prestigious exhibitions – the Helitech Expo 2021 at the ExCel. The start-up will reveal the flying vehicle completely at the two-day exhibition event.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, the newly appointed civil aviation minister expressed his delight in a statement. He said,

“Delighted to have been introduced to the concept model of the soon-to-become Asia’s First Hybrid flying car by the young team of Vinata AeroMobility. Once this takes off, flying cars would be used for transporting people & cargo, as well as for providing medical emergency services.”

Scindia also said that he hopes to see the flying car getting used in transporting people and cargo. Scindia said that he is hopeful to see the flying car in the emergency services.

The new Vinata’s flying car features digital instrumentation panels with artificial intelligence. Vinata says that it has designed the vehicle to give a much more engaging experience while flying as well as while driving it on the roads.

The vehicle can be segmented as a luxurious product and is quite attractive visually as well. There is a slew of features including a GPS tracker, a panoramic window canopy, an online entertainment system and much more.

The flying car weighs only 1,100 kg and can handle a take-off weight of 1,300 kg. It gets an electric battery and it gets Hybrid Electric VTOL or vertical take-off and landing aircraft. The vehicle gets the Rotor Configuration of a flying car of a coaxial quad-rotor system.

22/09/21 Shantonil Nag/CarToq

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Drones that deliver COVID-19 jabs? The future of India’s vaccine drive is nearly here

India’s varied landscape of towering mountains, expansive deserts, and wetlands susceptible to flash floods has long been an obstacle course for authorities trying to reach citizens in remote areas. In the COVID era, officials are navigating that maze to deliver vaccines, and they’re up against a ticking clock: the government’s goal to vaccinate each of India’s 950 million adults by the end of 2021. 

The extraordinary task calls for an innovative solution—one India piloted last weekend.  

On Saturday afternoon, a dome-shaped white drone the size of a mini refrigerator took off from the Vikarabad parade ground in the southern state of Telangana. Dozens of onlookers applauded as the device climbed upward before zipping off to the east. Within seconds, it was out of sight. Minutes later, the drone landed three kilometers away on the grounds of a state-run community hospital. 

On its journey, the drone cradled a medical cold storage box packed with dry ice and special insulation to protect precious cargo: vaccines against measles, mumps, and rubella. It was the first shipment in a 28-day pilot program spearheaded by the World Economic Forum that, if successful, will create a drone network to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to India’s hardest-to-reach places. The project, called Medicine From the Sky, is a partnership between WEF, the state government of Telangana, Apollo Hospitals HealthNet Global, and the government think tank NITI Aayog. For the pilot program, three drone startups—TechEagle, SkyAir, and Marut—have offered their services for free.

If the shipments of vaccines prove successful, the program will expand to delivering other critical medicines and emergency blood supplies.

“This is the first time in the world, when a revolution is about to start, India will not be a follower but a leader,” India Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia said at the launch ceremony.

The majority of India’s 1.4 billion people are served by roughly 30,000 government-run primary health care centers, but at least 5% to 10% of the centers are inaccessible to medical suppliers—and sometimes even patients—because of difficult terrain and weather hazards, said Suresh Munuswamy, head of technological innovations at the Public Health Foundation of India.

15/09/21 Biman Mukherji/Fortune

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How Telangana’s drone experiment could drive health care in India

Hyderabad: On September 11, a drone ferrying 12 kg of medicines and 20 vials of vaccines over 6 kms in five minutes to a primary health centre in the Telangana’s Vikarabad district marked the first step in a paradigm shift in health delivery. It was the first ever public service drone to set off on the Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLoS), that is over a distance of 500 metres, to deliver medicines.

This is a first of its kind initiative by the government of Telangana, done in partnership with the World Economic Forum, NITI Aayog and HealthNet Global of the Apollo Hospitals group. “For this, we have a well-established emerging technology corridor with a separate policy for drones in place,” says K.T. Rama Rao, Telangana’s major industries and information technology minister. “Telangana has always acted as a test bed for innovative solutions to support scaling across the nation.”

The September 11 drone trip signified the launch of the state’s unique ‘Medicine from the Sky’ project being taken up on a pilot basis in 16 green zones in the state and which is to be scaled up to the national level after analysing the data for three months. Also, on the same day, two other drones were tested in Vikarabad district—ferrying 5 kgs over 5 km and then back. They carried a thermometer to measure the temperature inside the box as maintaining low temperatures are vital for vaccines and medicines. The three drones were developed by the Hepicopter, comprising Marut Dronetech and Public Health Foundation of India, Blue Dart Med Express, comprising Blue Dart and Skye Air, and Curis Fly with TechEagle Innovations.

Vikarabad was picked for the launch of the project because it has public health centres in far flung areas and gives operators the experience to provide services in other districts. Drones, which are in communication with the command centre at all times, are designed to fly from a mobile launch pad equipped with refrigerators and freezers. Area hospitals will double up as command centres for drone operations. In case the drone loses contact with the command centre, it is programmed to land safely on its own.

In the Medicine from the Sky project, drones can carry 16 kgs and fly up to 40 km. Each box with the drone is designed to carry 1,000 to 2,000 vaccine vials. The capabilities vary. “Hepicopter, with the current class of drones, can support vaccination in remote areas by transporting about 2,000 to 5,000 doses of vaccines at two to eight degrees Celsius in one trip over a straight-line distance of 20 to 40 km,” says Prem Kumar Vislawath, founder Marut Dronetech, adding that a pair of drones can make around 10 trips daily.

15/09/21 Amarnath K Menon/India Today

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Use of Drones for Delivery of Vaccines in Manipur and Nagaland

Guwahati: Permission has been given to use drones for delivery of vaccines in Manipur and Nagaland. According to the information received, the Ministry of Civil Aviation has given permission to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to use drones to reach the vaccines in Manipur and Nagaland. Like Manipur and Nagaland, the ministry has also given similar permission to ICMR for Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

It is to be known that, a few days ago the Telangana State Government had started the "Medicine from the Sky" project. Under this project, the delivery of vaccines and medicines will be done through drones. The first of its kind in the country was the "Medicine from the Sky" project, which was started from Vikarabad in Hyderabad. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai has also been given permission to use drones for research, development and testing purposes inside its campus. A statement from the Ministry of Civil Aviation said that both ICMR and IITs have been given conditional exemption from the Drone Rules, 2021.

Meanwhile, new infections in the country continue to decline. At 27,176, India reported 30,000 new Covid-19 cases for the fourth consecutive day. According to the Union Health Ministry data on Wednesday, the Covid-19 deaths also fell below 300. India's total Covid-19 tally rises to 3,33,16,755 with fresh infections. India's Covid-19 death toll also rose to 4,43,497. In the last 24 hours, 284 people died in the country. The number of active COVID-19 cases has come down to 3,51,087 and is now 1.05% of the total cases in the country. The Health Ministry said that 38,012 patients have been cured of coronavirus in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of recoveries to 3,25,22,171.

15/09/21 Shruti Wilson/News Track

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Aviation Ministry grants ICMR conditional permission to use drones for vaccine delivery

The Civil Aviation Ministry said on September 13 it has granted conditional permission to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) to use drones in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Manipur, and Nagaland to deliver vaccines beyond the visual line of sight.

The ICMR has been permitted to use drones up to a height of 3,000 metre to deliver vaccines, the ministry's statement added.

Two days ago, Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had launched first of its kind 'Medicines from the Sky' project at Vikarabad in Telangana under which drugs and vaccines will be delivered using drones. The ministry's statement mentioned that the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai has also received conditional permission to use drones for research, development and testing purposes in its own premises.

Both the organisations — the Bombay-IIT and the ICMR — have been granted conditional exemption from Drone Rules, 2021, the statement said. "This exemption shall be subject to the terms and conditions of the said airspace clearance and shall be valid for a period of one year from the date of approval of the said airspace clearance or until further orders, whichever is earlier," the statement noted.

On August 25, the ministry had notified Drone Rules, 2021, that liberalised the drone rules of the country. The Drone Rules, 2021, have been notified to "usher in an era of super-normal growth while balancing safety and security considerations in drone operations", the ministry's statement said.

13/09/21 PTI/Moneycontrol

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'Medicines from the Sky' takes wing in Telangana, Scindia says will scale up project nationwide

Hyderabad: The Telangana government on Saturday launched the ‘Medicines from the Sky’ project under which drugs and vaccines will be delivered using drones, a first of its kind initiative in all of Asia.

Union Civil Aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and state ITE&C, I&C, and MAUD minister KT Rama Rao and other dignitaries were present at the project launch.

“The ministry’s new drone rules have unlocked the drone industry and the innovation therein on the principles of trust, self-certification, and non-intrusive monitoring. Drones is a frontier technology that can be used to access the otherwise inaccessible areas, and thus allow equitable access to basic services like healthcare for even the farthest and remotest of areas. India is all set to become the drone hub of the world by 2030, and the potential of our innovators is only infinite,” said Civil Aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Scindia said the Medicines from the Sky project, developed in partnership with World Economic Forum, Niti Aayog, and HealthNet Global, will be taken up on a pilot basis in 16 green zones in Telangana and scaled up to the national level based on data.

“Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted that the healthcare supply chains can be further strengthened, and drones offers a robust value proposition esp. when it comes to remote areas and emergencies. The Medicine from the Sky is the first of its kind initiative in the country to generate insights that shall benefit the entire ecosystem. The enthusiasm and support by all the partners are deeply appreciated," said minister K T Rama Rao at the launch.

The launch will be followed by about a month of continuous trials by the eight selected consortiums, that have been batched into two per week on a lottery basis, will conduct BVLOS trials and collect the data from each flight in a carefully crafted drone demo report covering all parameters.

The trials are focused on laying the groundwork for laying the drone delivery network that will improve access to vital health care supplies for remote and vulnerable communities.

The insights from these trials shall be used to drive adoption strategy for the state, and also publish reports that highlight Telangana’s experience and how the same can be leveraged by all states across India.

The project has eight participating consortiums comprising of drone operators, experts in healthcare and airspace management among others, that shall demonstrate short and long-range drone-based deliveries to assess the efficacy of low altitude aerial logistics in healthcare.

12/09/21 Ashish Pandey/India Today

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Telangana's ‘Medicine from the Sky' initiative of using drones to deliver vaccine to launch from tomorrow

Hyderabad: Telangana’s ‘Medicine from the Sky’ initiative of using drones to deliver drugs and vaccines beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) will be launched as a pilot project in Vikarabad district on September 11. The launch ceremony to be organised at Vikarabad Police Parade Ground will be presided over Union Minister for Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia and attended by IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, the Joint MD of Apollo Group and the World Economic Forum. 

The project received the final regulatory nod from the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) to conduct the operations. Ahead of the launch, three of the eight selected consortia — Bluedart Med Express Consortium (Skye Air), Hepicopter Consortium (Marut Drones) and CurisFly Consortium (TechEagle Innovations) have already started testing their drones via BVLOS and visual line of sight (VLOS) flights.

With the launch, the consortia will continue to further test the endurance of their drones over increasing distances and heavier payloads to establish their reliability. The initiative, being spearheaded by the Emerging Technologies Wing of the ITE&C Department in partnership with World Economic Forum, NITI Aayog and HealthNet Global (Apollo Hospitals), is the first-of-its-kind in India.

11/09/21 New Indian Express

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Telangana: Drone technology used for the first time in India for vaccine delivery

Telangana: A two-day trial of drones under the state government's 'Medicine from the Sky' project began in Vikarabad city on Thursday. The project is first of its kind in India as it is the first organized BVLOS drone trial in the country and is being conducted in healthcare as a domain. Vikarabad District Collector K. Nikhila formally inaugurated the trial run at the Parade Ground. Speaking on the occasion, he said, "This is the first time in India that a trial run is being conducted to deliver vaccines or medicines to remote areas using drone technology."

The project was formally launched on September 11 by Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Telangana Industries and Information Technology Minister K.T. Rama Rao. 'Medicine from the Sky' is an initiative of Telangana Government led by Emerging Technologies Wing of ITE&C Department in partnership with World Economic Forum, NITI Aayog and Healthnet Global (Apollo Hospitals). The project has received the final regulatory approval from the Ministry of Civil Aviation. Three of the eight selected consortiums, namely Bluedart Made Express Consortium (Sky Air), Helicopter Consortium (Marut Drones), and Curisfly Consortium (TechEagle Innovation), have already reached Vikarabad and tested their drones through VLOS and BVLOS flights. 

10/09/21 Shruti Wilson/News Track

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Hansa-NG makes first flight

Bengaluru: The National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) said that the new generation HANSA (Hansa-NG), a two-seater aircraft designed and developed by it, successfully made its maiden flight of 20 minutes on Friday.

“The aircraft took off from HAL airport at 2.09pm and flew at an altitude of 4,000ft and gained a speed of 80 knots before landing,” NAL said. Test pilot Captain Amit Dahiya, who piloted the aircraft, described the first flight as a “textbook mission” where all parameters were normal.

“The unique features of HANSA-NG are the glass cockpit with cabin comfort, high efficient digitally-controlled engine, electrically operated flaps, long endurance, low acquisition and operating cost,” NAL said.

NAL has already received 72 letters of intent (LoIs) from various flying clubs and the aircraft, NAL said, will be certified in the next four months after which the process of induction would begin.

Friday’s flight was monitored in telemetry by senior officers and scientists from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (Cemilac).

Shekhar C Mande, secretary, DSIR (dept of scientific and industrial research), under which NAL operates, said a private player has already been identified for series production of the aircraft.

03/09/21 Chethan Kumar/Times of India

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