Now that the first flying car is available for pre-order, it looks like more commercial projects involving flying vehicles are looming on the horizon. Dubai has announced their plans to introduce flying drone taxis in the near future. It sounds like a project out of this world, but the city is very serious about this rather unusual concept.
Flying Drone Taxis Come To Dubai
One could argue the people living in Dubai are thinking on a different level compared to the rest of the world. This city is known for its technological prowess, which raises a lot of eyebrows every now and then. Then again, some of the projects taking place in this city will set an intriguing precedent for the rest of the world. Flying drone taxis may seem a bit far fetched, but the concept seems solid so far.
It has to be said, Dubai has a thing for technological advancements in the transportation sector. Teams are working on hyperloop trains and driverless metro lines. Flying drone taxis seem to be a logical fit, looking at the bigger picture. Whether or not they can pull it off, is a different matter entirely, that much is certain. There are quite a few intriguing details about these taxis that warrant a closer look.
First of all, these drone taxis will be unpiloted, meaning passengers put their life in the hands of software and hardware. This may turn off quite a few people at first, as trusting an autonomous machine is still hard for many people. Moreover, there can only be one passenger per taxi, which seems to be more a safety precaution rather than an issue imposed by the technology itself.
There is more, as the passenger and his luggage cannot weigh over 220 pounds. This restricts air travel to the skinny part of the population, which is somewhat discriminatory. Plus, the unpiloted taxi drone will only have a range of 31 miles, which means flight time is restricted to mere minutes per passenger. Then again, that is still a very solid distance for the first generation of these commercial vehicles.
Using an unpiloted drone taxi makes a lot of sense in Dubai, though. Its roads are considered one of the world’s deadliest, and traffic congestion is reaching alarming heights as of late. Flying in a drone to cruise above the people standing bumper-to-bumper can be quite a pleasant experience. Considering the drones reach 62 miles an hour in speed, the journey will not be slow by any means.
It is unclear how much one would have to pay for this rather unique experience. Knowing Dubai, it will not be a cheap endeavor by any means. Despite its restrictions based on passenger weight and travel distance, it is a somewhat safe experience by the look of things. Then again, we won’t know for sure until these drone taxis are put through their paces in a real environment.
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