Autonomous Flight

History

Autonomous Flight, based in Sevenoaks, was founded in 2017 by British entrepreneur Martin Warner. Warner was born and raised in Biggin Hill, Kent, and has an educational background as a software programmer and engineer. In the early 2010s, Warner and Mike Duma co-founded botObjects, a 3D printing software and hardware manufacturer which, in 2015, he sold for $50 million. He also runs an air logistics software company called Parcel Fly and is involved in the movie distribution business through the Flix Premiere streaming service.

Autonomous Flight is in the business of designing and manufacturing non-polluting electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Its first design, the Y6S eVTOL, is a two-passenger short range aircraft initially designed as an air taxi. It is fully electric and is powered by lithium-ion batteries.

This was followed by the six seat Y6S Plus eVTOL aircraft for UAM flight. Autonomous Flight has also stated they have plans for an eight seat passenger aircraft, the AS1. Despite the company’s name, initially, it intends to have a pilot on board the Y6S Plus, along with up to five passengers. Warner maintained that, technically, eVTOL aircraft could be operated autonomously from day one, but he acknowledged that the certification path for this is not yet established and there are also questions about consumer acceptance.

A prototype test flight was planned for the third quarter of 2019 with a manned test flight in the fourth quarter of 2019, but at the time of writing (2022), no prototype has appeared.

Company References

Project Data

Name	Year	Status	Description	References
YS6	2017	Proj	2s eVTOL air taxi.	2, 3, 5
AS1	2019	Proj	8 pax eVTOL air taxi.	1, 4
YS6 Plus	2021	Proj	6s eVTOL air taxi.	2, 3

Project References

Production Details and Type Description