--- title: "Watch the First Commercial Self-Flying Helicopter Take Off" description: "Urban flight company Skyryse has shown off what it calls the \"world's most intelligent helicopter\" — a modified self-flying helicopter." date: "2019-12-17" modified: "2019-12-17" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/first-commercial-self-flying-helicopter-take-off" categories: - "Advanced Transport" tags: - "helicopter" - "self-flying" - "the digest" --- # Watch the First Commercial Self-Flying Helicopter Take Off ![Urban flight company Skyryse has shown off what it calls the "world's most intelligent helicopter" — a modified self-flying helicopter.]() *\Image: Skyryse\* ## Rysing to the Skys Urban flight company Skyryse just showed off what it [calls]() the "world's most intelligent helicopter" — a modified helicopter that can fly itself. In a video uploaded by the company, you can watch the FAA-approved helicopter take off all by itself with a safety pilot in the cockpit to make sure nothing goes wrong. https://youtu.be/X6riQG3G9z0 Rather than representing an entirely different take on the flying car, the helicopter's new brains are more equivalent to the "self-driving" features you see in contemporary cars — an effort to make vehicles safer and more accessible than ever before. "Today, we design our lives around traffic and make decisions about where we live and work based on how hard it is to get there," Mark Groden, Skyryse CEO and founder, said in [a statement](). "To get there, we need to make urban flying as safe as riding an elevator and as accessible and affordable as riding a bus." ## Air Cruise Control The technology behind the feat called "Flight Stack" allows for either full or partial autonomous flight — think of it like cruise control on a car. An air network management system is designed to work out of the box with the FAA's existing technology and networks by communicating flight paths, altitude and other critical data. The news comes after a team of German researchers developed a landing system that lets an [aircraft land autonomously]() on virtually any runway entirely by itself. **READ MORE:** [Skyryse shows off its self-flying helicopter tech]() \[*Engadget*\] **More on self-flying:** *[Watch This Tiny Plane Nail a Fully Autonomous Landing]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()