Self-driving cars? Dubai starts testing autonomous flying taxis for passengers

The Dubai administration has started testing a driverless flying taxi service for passengers.

In a test conducted this Monday, an autonomous flying taxi service was demonstrated by Dubai. A drone took off from ground and hovered around 200 metres above the ground, in the test flight which lasted for about five minutes. The project is expected to push Dubai into becoming the World’s first city to have tested and deployed flying taxi services for local commute.

The drone used has been built by a German drone developer firm Volocopter and is basically a two-seater helicopter. Since it is still a bit early for deployment of self-flying drones, the developers have tried to put in every possible safety precaution in place. The helicopter which is propelled by 18 propellers comes with backup batteries and rotor machines in case the main machinery fails. The helicopter is totally autonomous and wouldn’t be requiring a driver onboard the flight.

The CEO Volocopter Florian Reuter, while talking to the ceremony, told that these state-of-the-art taxis would be launched in the metropolitan city of Dubai, within five years. The passengers will be able to order the taxis through applications on their smartphones.

Big companies like Airbus are already leading significant researches into introducing driverless flying taxis for commute. Careem is also collaborating with Next Future Transportation, a California-based company, to introduce such taxis.

News — Reuters