Drone taxis to adorn Dubai skies in July

Dubai boasts of a number of stupendous fetes including the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest skyscraper; Ski Dubai or the world's largest indoor ski resort and more. But the city is not stopping here. It is likely to launch its own taxi which flies!

It was announced recently that by the summer of 2017, Dubai will be the first city in the world to allow passenger-carrying drone taxis. The company behind this innovation is EHang, a Guangzhou-based firm. This firm was in the news in 2016 for its pathbreaking creation of waves using a personal driverless drone that could fly to a height of 11,000 feet. 

The model that Dubai would be using is EHang's 184 model, which can carry upto 255 pounds of weight, with space for an adult and a luggage. The operational technology is equally interesting. Once the passenger mounts the taxi, he uses a mobile application to enter the desired GPS destination and then press the launch button. The 440-pound drone will fly at a top speed of 100 miles per hour and can cover a distance of 31 miles on a single charge. 

Dubai is planning to launch autonomous, one-passenger drone taxis this summer #Drone #Taxi

— Jenny Park Adam (@jennyparkadam) May 5, 2017

While people are skeptical about the safety of the drone, the company says that the functionalities will have zero-error and will have back up safety plans that will ensure a safe trip. And in case of emergencies, the drone will automatically manoeuvre its flight trajectory to the nearest landing location. 

The Chinese drones are likely to be delivered in July and will be a part of the grand strategy that aims to see most of the Dubai traffic going driverless by 2030. Currently, test flights of the taxi drones are going on in Dubai.

• middle east
• dubai