Watch: Dubai has just tested the world’s first flying hover-taxi (goodbye traffic jams)
Passengers will order the self-driving ‘velocopters’ through a smartphone app.
One of the futures depicted in sci-fi films is almost here. Dubai has just tested the world’s first hover-taxi service, without passengers.
Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced a successful “concept” flight for the driverless drone, built for two passengers. The city plans to incorporate the hover-taxi as part of its public transport system.
The “Volocopter”, designed by a German drone firm, is studded with 18 propellers, and equipped with safety features including emergency parachutes and back-up battery systems and rotors. The drone is meant to fly without remote control guidance, and can be airborne for 30 minutes at a maximum speed of 100 kilometres per hour.
Volocopter CEO Florian Reuter said, “Implementation would see you using your smartphone, having an app, and ordering a volocopter,” according to Reuters.
