Come July Dream city Dubai will boast of a skyline dotted with automated flying taxis, which will take commuters to their destinations gliding over busy roads and beautiful landscapes of the desert city. Commuters need not to bother about getting stuck in the nerve rattling traffic jams.
These passenger drones or self-driving hover-taxis can carry a single rider with a small suitcase. Launching these, according to the director of the city’s transportation authority, is part of an ambitious plan to increase driverless technology.
The vehicle, made by Chinese drone manufacturer EHang, can travel on a programmed course at 100 kilometres an hour (60 mph) at an altitude of 300 metres (1,000 feet), the authority said in a statement. It can recharge in two hours and make trips of up to 30 minutes.
The craft can carry a 220-pound passenger, according to a promotional video produced by the Roads and Transport Authority, which depicts a man boarding the vessel, buckling into a race car-style harness and tapping his destination on a touch screen before taking off.
A passenger simply needs to select a destination for the autonomous taxi to take off, fly the route and touch down in the chosen spot monitored by a ground control centre.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai announced last year that 25 per cent of all journeys in the city would be conducted by driverless vehicles by 2030.
