Watch World’s First Flight of Automated Flying Taxi Soaring Over Dubai Nick Lavars - New Atlas
go to original September 28, 2017

First ever public demonstration of an autonomous urban air taxi in a mega city (Volocopter)

Dubai is moving full steam ahead toward a futuristic skyline dotted with modern skyscrapers and flying taxis by kicking off trials of the Volocopter two-seater aircraft. The all-electric 18-rotor vehicle took to the skies for the first time over the city this week as the city looks to establish what would be world's first self-flying taxi service.

The Volocopter first emerged in 2013 as an audacious electric aircraft, and has gathered quite a bit of momentum in the subsequent years through a series of successful test flights and, more recently, a US$29 million investment from Daimler. Designed to autonomously carry two passengers from point A to point B without a pilot, the Volocopter in its current form can fly for 30 minutes at a time with a top speed of 100 km/h (62 mph).



Dubai announced its plans to trial the Volocopter back in June, and has rebranded it as the Autonomous Air Taxi (AAT) for its purposes. It is hoped the aircraft will play a role in having autonomous vehicles handle a quarter of all passenger journeys in the city by 2030.

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