US 12,492,020 B2
Electric autonomous aircraft
Snorri Gudmundsson, Daytona Beach, FL (US); Chunlei Liu, Los Angeles, CA (US); Kevin Antcliff, Yorktown, VA (US); Sydney Hardy, Burbank, CA (US); Kanthi Latha Bahmidipati, Detroit, MI (US); Marc Piette, Orinda, CA (US); and Maxime Marie Christophe Gariel, San Francisco, CA (US)
Assigned to JOBY AERO, INC., Santa Cruz, CA (US)
Filed by Joby Aero, Inc., Santa Cruz, CA (US)
Filed on Feb. 29, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/591,053.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/487,886, filed on Mar. 2, 2023.
Prior Publication US 2024/0294277 A1, Sep. 5, 2024
Int. Cl. B64U 10/25 (2023.01); B64U 20/30 (2023.01); B64U 101/61 (2023.01)
CPC B64U 10/25 (2023.01) [B64U 20/30 (2023.01); B64U 2101/61 (2023.01)] 21 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An aircraft comprising:
a fuselage that includes:
a nose portion that includes sensors that generate sensor data;
a cabin portion aft of the nose portion, wherein the cabin portion includes a passenger cabin and a passenger entry area through which passengers enter the passenger cabin;
an underwing portion aft of the cabin portion, wherein the underwing portion includes a wing attachment region at a top of the underwing portion, and wherein the underwing portion includes a battery bay that houses a battery assembly having a first plurality of batteries arranged in a first orientation and a second plurality of batteries arranged in a second orientation different from the first orientation; and
an aft portion aft of the underwing portion;
a wing assembly attached to the wing attachment region of the fuselage such that the underwing portion of the fuselage is located under the wing assembly, wherein the wing assembly includes motor mounts and control surfaces;
a tail assembly attached to the aft portion of the fuselage;
electric motors including propellers, wherein the electric motors are attached to the motor mounts such that the propellers are in a pusher configuration facing rearward, and wherein the propellers are on an opposite side of the wing assembly as the cabin portion of the fuselage; and
an autonomous control system that controls the electric motors and the control surfaces based on the sensor data generated by the sensors included in the nose portion.