Since the start of its rapid development in the end of the last century, the city of Dubai has been a place where innovators thrive, and every visionary is given an opportunity to showcase their talent. The same is happening again, and as the summer nears, we may see the craziest and most futuristic invention so far; the Dubai Flying Taxi. The vehicles are unmanned and completely autonomous drone taxis that will be capable of ferrying passengers under 100 kgs.
Dubai Flying Taxi Gets Ready for Take-off
It has to be said, people living in Dubai have a different level of comprehending technology when compared to the rest of the world. Year after year the city pushes the boundaries of whats possible, setting an intriguing precedent for the rest of us. The city has already started working on hyperloop trains and a metro line that could operate without drivers.
Given its heavy traffic problems, and the reputation of having some of the deadliest roads in the world, the moves Dubai is making are completely logical. Implementing unmanned drones which will help with the cities problems while also eliminating the possibility of human error.
Dubai isn’t the first place where this idea was thought about. The city of Las Vegas has also looked into the concept as a mean to lighten the traffic congestion that is troubling the city. The front-runners there were some big names interested in this opportunity, like Uber and Airbus, but they didn’t yet put their plans into action.
On the other side of the world, Dubai’s Road and Transportation Agency already started flying test models in its skies, experimenting with unmanned drones.
Ehang 184 Passenger Drone
The Agency decided to use the Ehang 184, a light drone that can fly without human direction, which is ideal for this purpose. The drone can carry one person up to 220 pounds, and a small bag or suitcase, and it can stay in the air for a maximum of 23 minutes. It is electric powered and can go to speeds up to 90km/h(60 miles an hour), traveling for a maximum distance of 31 miles.
The designers put the biggest priority on security, installing a ’fail-safe’ system in the drone, which makes it land on one of the platforms around the city, at the smallest sign of malfunction.
When asked about the software part of the drone, Mattar al-Tayer, the head of the Transportation Agency said that the channels on which the drones work are encrypted, so the potential of someone hacking the drone is minimized.
The specifications and capabilities of the drones are very solid for a first generation of these transportation vehicles. It is planned that the autonomous drone will start ferrying its first passengers as early as this summer, but for now it is unclear how much will this one-of-a-kind experience cost the lucky few who can afford it. Then again, being such a unique experience, it would be an interesting endeavor for people who appreciate technology at its finest.
The future of transport is here, and its even more crazy than we could have predicted.
