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Flying Drone Taxis To Be A Thing in Dubai

A flying drone taxi sounds like it’s too good to be true, but Dubai is planning to put forward a passenger carrying drone. Ehang 184 is a giant 500 pound (226kg) drone that can carry one passenger, as it’s a one seater, who has to enter their destination into the device and the drone does the rest.

Dubai’s Road & Transportation Agency announced at the World Government Summit in the city that they’re going to begin using drones to carry passengers across the city. The drones will go across predetermined routes, which will start in July, and ferry people one at a time through the sky.

The Ehang 184 can carry a passenger with a maximum weight of 99kgs for a distance of 49kms on one charge at a top speed of 160kms per hour. Basically, you’ll be zooming through the sky. Dubai is a good place to introduce this kind of technology as it’s known for being a very busy city, so short trips through the air would be a breeze compared to sitting in traffic.

This is what it’ll feel like, probably. Source.

If you were worried about these drones being able to roam free without anyone watching what they’re doing as they took their passengers from point A to point B, you don’t need to panic. Dubai officials will be remotely monitoring the drones and piloting them from a centralised command centre. The city has already started test flights for the drones. Check out the video below.

With the Ehang 184 partnering with Lung Biotechnology to ferry donated organs between hospitals, there’s seemingly no limit to what drone technology can do to help make the lives of people easier. The taxi drone might be the first step into air drone people travel, which is very exciting indeed. So long Uber, hello flying drone taxis!