Abstract: Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft can provide opportunities to incorporate aerial transportation into transportation networks for cities and metropolitan areas. However, VTOL aircraft can be sensitive to uneven weight distributions, e.g., the payload of an aircraft is primarily loaded in the front, back, left, or right. When the aircraft is loaded unevenly, the center of mass of the aircraft may shift substantially enough to negatively impact performance of the aircraft. Thus, in turn, there is an opportunity that the VTOL may be loaded unevenly if seating and/or luggage placement is not coordinated. Among other advantages, dynamically assigning the VTOL aircraft payloads can increase VTOL safety by ensuring the VTOL aircraft is loaded evenly and meets all weight requirements; can increase transportation efficiency by increasing rider throughput; and can increase the availability of the VTOL services to all potential riders.

Abstract: A network system, such as a transport management system, uses augmented reality (AR) to identify an approaching vehicle. Responsive to receiving a trip request, a trip management module matches the rider with an available driver and instructs a trip monitoring module to monitor the location of the driver's vehicle as it travels to the pickup location. When the driver's vehicle is within a threshold distance of the pickup location, an AR control module instructs the rider client device to begin a live video stream and instructs an image recognition module to monitor the video stream for the driver's vehicle. Responsive to the driver's vehicle entering the field of view of the camera on the rider client device, the AR control module selects computer-generated AR elements and instructs the rider client device to visually augment the video stream to identify the driver's vehicle as it approaches the pickup location.

Abstract: A computing system for landing and storing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft can be configured to receive aircraft data, passenger data, or environment data associated with a VTOL aircraft and determine a landing pad location within a landing facility based on the aircraft data, passenger data, and/or environment data. The landing facility can include a lower level and an upper level. The lower level can include a lower landing area and a lower storage area. The upper level can include an upper landing area. At least a portion of the upper level can be arranged over the lower storage area. The landing pad location can include a location within the lower landing area or the upper landing area of the landing facility. The computing system can communicate the landing pad location to an operator or a navigation system of the VTOL aircraft.

Abstract: An aircraft with a forward swept wing is configured to transition between vertical flight and forward flight. The aircraft includes propellers attached laterally along the wing. The propellers may be stacked propellers with two or more co-rotating rotors. The aircraft also includes booms attached along the wing and at each free end of the wing. The booms can include boom control effectors configured to direct airflow below a propeller. The aircraft includes one or more cruise propellers, configured to operate during forward flight to generate lift. The aircraft can also include control surfaces on the wings and tail that may tilt during takeoff and landing to yaw the vehicle.

Abstract: A request for transport services that identifies a rider, an origin, and a destination is received from a client device. Eligibility of the request to be serviced by a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is determined based on the origin and the destination. The client device is sent an itinerary for servicing the transport request including a leg serviced by the VTOL aircraft. Confirmation is received that the rider has boarded the VTOL aircraft and determination made as to whether the VTOL aircraft should wait for additional riders. Instruction are sent to the VTOL aircraft to take-off if one or more conditions are met.

Abstract: Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft can provide opportunities to incorporate aerial transportation into transportation networks for cities and metropolitan areas. However, VTOL aircraft can be sensitive to uneven weight distributions, e.g., the payload of an aircraft is primarily loaded in the front, back, left, or right. When the aircraft is loaded unevenly, the center of mass of the aircraft may shift substantially enough to negatively impact performance of the aircraft. Thus, in turn, there is an opportunity that the VTOL may be loaded unevenly if seating and/or luggage placement is not coordinated. Among other advantages, dynamically assigning the VTOL aircraft payloads can increase VTOL safety by ensuring the VTOL aircraft is loaded evenly and meets all weight requirements; can increase transportation efficiency by increasing rider throughput; and can increase the availability of the VTOL services to all potential riders.

Abstract: An operator tag search system can generate a search page including a search box and identify an initial set of user inputs in the search box. The search system can generate operator tags in the search box, where each operator tag includes a selected search property, an operator, and an inputted value. The search system can perform a dynamic search in one or more databases to satisfy each of the operator tags. Based on the dynamic search, the search system can generate a results feature for display on the search page.

Abstract: An aircraft can include a stacked propeller to generate lift during assent and descent. The stacked propeller includes a first propeller and a second propeller that co-rotate about an axis of rotation. In one embodiment, the blades are coupled to a rotor mast that contains an internal cavity. In one mode of operation, the first propeller and/or the second propeller can be stored in the internal cavity in order to reduce drag during flight. The aircraft can include one or more stacked propellers, such as a port propeller and a starboard propeller, which rotate in opposite directions during one or more modes of flight.

Abstract: A vertical landing and take-off aircraft VTOL transitions from a vertical takeoff state to a cruise state where the vertical takeoff state uses propellers to generate lift and the cruise state uses wings to generate lift. The aircraft has an M-wing configuration with propellers located on the wingtip nacelles, wing booms, and tail boom. The wing boom and/or the tail boom can include boom control effectors. Hinged control surfaces on the wings, tail boom, and tail tilt during takeoff and landing to yaw the vehicle. The boom control effectors, cruise propellers, stacked propellers, and control surfaces can have different positions during different modes of operation in order to control aircraft movement and mitigate noise generated by the aircraft.

Abstract: The disclosure generally relates to aircraft vehicles, specifically vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft that include propellers. A propeller is coupled to a boom and the boom includes a boom control effector. The boom control effector is configured to direct the airflow behind or below the propeller. The boom control effector can be configured to control the yaw movement of the aircraft and mitigate noise from the propeller. A boom control effector can be a single effector or a split effector. The split effector may operate in conjunction with a boom that operates as a resonator to reduce noise produced by the propeller.

Abstract: A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft provides transportation to users of a network system. The network system may include multiple aircraft or other types of vehicles to provide multi-model transportation. An aircraft may include a fuselage, a truss coupled to the fuselage, and multiple distributed electric propellers coupled to the truss. The distributed electric propellers may be positioned on at least two different planes. The fuselage may include a cabin having one or more seats for the passengers arranged in a configuration that has a compact footprint, provides legroom, provides visibility to surroundings of the aircraft, or facilitates convenient ingress or egress of passengers. The aircraft may open a port cabin door and starboard cabin door for simultaneous ingress or egress of passengers.

Abstract: An operator tag search system can generate a search page including a search box and identify an initial set of user inputs in the search box. The search system can generate operator tags in the search box, where each operator tag includes a selected search property, an operator, and an inputted value. The search system can perform a dynamic search in one or more databases to satisfy each of the operator tags. Based on the dynamic search, the search system can generate a results feature for display on the search page.