The Self-flying Taxi

An autonomous drone that can transport humans will start taking passengers around Dubai this summer. Mattar al-Tayer, the head of Dubai’s transportation agency, said that self-flying taxis would start taking people across the city from July. The city will use the Ehang 184 for the service, which is made in China. The Ehang 184 is a drone that can fly without human direction and carry a single passenger and his bag. The Ehang 184 can take one person on a journey up to 23 minutes long. “This isn’t only a model. We have actually experimented with this vehicle flying in Dubai,” said Mattar al-Tayer. Dubai isn’t the first city to show an interest in using the Ehang, first unveiled at an exhibition in 2016. Las Vegas announced last summer that it would start the trial of drones for public use. The Ehang is electric-powered and can travel for about 31 miles with a person and a bag that weigh up to 100kg. It can go at speeds of up to 63 miles an hour and takes two hours to charge fully. To call for a flying taxi, what a passenger will need to do is enter his destination into an app. The drone then maps the route and transports the passenger to his destination. The Ehang can’t fly directly but has to hop from one set landing spot to another. Its propellers fold inwards as it lands so it can fit in a single car parking space. Designed to be secure, the Ehang has a “fail safe” system, which shows it to land in the nearest place if anything breaks down or disconnects.