Manned vertical take-off and landing aerial vehicle navigation

A manned VTOL aerial vehicle comprising:

• a body comprising a cockpit;
• a propulsion system carried by the body to propel the body during flight;
• pilot-operable controls accessible from the cockpit;
• a sensing system configured to generate sensor data associated with a region around the manned VTOL aerial vehicle;
• a control system configured to enable control of the manned VTOL aerial vehicle to be shared between a pilot and an autonomous piloting system, the control system comprising:
• at least one processor;
• and
• memory accessible to the at least one processor, the memory being configured to store:
• the sensor data;
• and
• a three-dimensional model of the region;
• and
• the memory storing program instructions accessible by the at least one processor, and configured to cause the at least one processor to:
• determine a state estimate and a state estimate confidence metric, wherein:
• the state estimate is indicative of a state of the manned VTOL aerial vehicle within the three-dimensional model;
• the state estimate confidence metric is indicative of an error associated with the state estimate;
• and
• the state estimate comprises:
• a position estimate that is indicative of a position of the manned VTOL aerial vehicle within the three-dimensional model;
• a speed vector that is indicative of a velocity of the manned VTOL aerial vehicle;
• and
• an attitude vector that is indicative of an attitude of the manned VTOL aerial vehicle;
• generate a three-dimensional point cloud of the region based at least in part on the sensor data;
• generate a plurality of virtual particles within the three-dimensional model at particle positions that are around the state estimate, wherein the particle positions are determined based at least in part on the state estimate confidence metric;
• compute a plurality of scores, each score being associated with one of the plurality of virtual particles and being indicative of a difference between the three-dimensional model and the three-dimensional point cloud when the three-dimensional point cloud is centred on the respective virtual particle;
• and
• update the state estimate based at least in part on the computed scores, thereby determining an updated state estimate.