CoolFly Unveils Urban Electric Flying Platform With AI Flight Control, Eyes U.S. FAA Part 103 Compliance
Why It MattersThe launch signals growing manufacturer interest in certifying single-person eVTOL platforms under existing ultralight rules to reach consumer recreational and urban air mobility markets without pilot licensing hurdles.
Chinese company CoolFly has unveiled the Urban, an all-electric, pilotable flying platform the company and some Chinese state media have called "the world's first air skateboard," though a similar concept, the Hiller Model 1031-A-1 Flying Platform, was developed with U.S. armed forces in the 1950s, making that claim inaccurate; a more precise description is that the Urban is the first electric-powered flying platform of its kind.
The Urban is a quad-axis, eight-rotor eVTOL craft with zero-emission propulsion, powered by CoolFly's NA80 flight control system, which the company describes as an AI-powered gravity-sensing system tracking the combined center of gravity of the machine and pilot to automatically maintain balance during flight. CoolFly calls the NA80 "the world's first flight control system purpose-built for eVTOL," contrasting it with the earlier Hiller platform, which ran on two Nelson H-59 gasoline engines.
The Urban is designed as a consumer-grade product for tourism, recreational outdoor activities, and urban air mobility, and CoolFly states operators do not need a pilot certificate, medical certificate, or airworthiness certificate to fly it. The company has showcased the Urban at U.S. technology shows and is engineering it to comply with U.S. FAA Part 103 ultralight vehicle regulations, indicating plans for the U.S. market.
