A couple of months ago we discussed
about Drones ecosystem. As said earlier this technology has been around for a
while but not explored for the consumer market.
Now Tech companies are now
dipping their heads on the drone jar and fetching out any idea that is drone
related but the Dubai self-flying taxi has topped them all.
Flying taxis
The days
of sitting in a taxi while it's stuck in a traffic jam could soon be a thing of
the past for people in Dubai, assuming there is traffic there.
Dubai is now developing a self-flying taxi drone of which is to be launched and out in the market soon. The head of Dubai's transportation agency said that self-flying taxis would start taking people across the city starting from July.
Dubai is now developing a self-flying taxi drone of which is to be launched and out in the market soon. The head of Dubai's transportation agency said that self-flying taxis would start taking people across the city starting from July.
These egg
shaped drone is purposely to ferry humans within various parts of the city. its
has a sitting capacity of one person and can fit a small load. Maximum load including human is 100KG it’s not
yet clear on the fly time but it’s said to be between 1-2 hours of flying.
Its developed
by a chines firm Ehang and they will be launching the Ehang 184 as the
first model. This is not the first time this company has experienced on drones
as they had a display way back on CES 2016
"This
is not only a model, we have actually experimented with this vehicle flying in
Dubai's skies," said Mattar al-Tayer, head of Dubai's transportation
agency.
How it works
Firstly it’s powered by an electric engine
which can take up to 2hrs to fully recharge. Top speed is up to 100KM per hour.
The drone is able to take off by the use of the
four independent roller blades of which if one fails the rest can still
complete the flight or do an emergency landing if need be.
Its auto pilot and does not need human control
either when landing or taking off. It basically
works like “Uber”. Request a ride which is logged in to the system, if there is
an available drone it’s dispatched to you for pick up.
Once the drone lands you get in and it has a
friendly touch screen interface that will allow you select destination. Once this
is locked in it takes off and by the use of GPS one will be dropped as the
requested destination.
Officials from EHang say all movements and
functions of the drone will be monitored by people in a “Command and Control
Center” on the ground. The person inside the aircraft will also be able to
communicate with the command center if needed.