Dubai passenger drones are expected to act as self-service air cabs around the United Arab Emirates' tourist destination by July, according to its officials at the World Government Summit.
The Chinese-made EHang 184 is an egg-shaped, four-legged vehicle with propellers, The Sun reported. The drone can fit one person and can fly up to 30 minutes.
According to Dubai officials, passengers will be able to punch in their destination on a touchscreen dashboard and the drone will fly them to their destination, under the eye of ground control monitors, The Sun reported.
"The autonomous aerial vehicle exhibited at the World Government Summit is not just a model," Matter al-Tayer, the head of Dubai's Roads and Transportation Agency, said Monday, according to Agence France-Presse.
"We have already experimented (with) the vehicle in a flight in (the) Dubai sky. (The authority was) making every effort to start the operation of the autonomous aerial vehicle in July 2017," Tayer added.
The taxi drone appears to be a step the UAE is taking to meet its goal to have a quarter of its transportation be run by automation by 2030, according to AFP. Dubai signed an agreement with U.S. startup company Hyperloop One to study the construction of a near-supersonic transport link from Dubai to the nation's capital Abu Dhabi.
Forbes reported last year that the all-electric flying vehicle could only hold 220 pounds at the time and would be limited to traveling short to medium distances.
"Passengers don't need to learn how to fly it, they don't need get to a pilot's license," EHang cofounder Derrick Xiong said in an interview, according to Forbes. "They just need to press a button and then it vertically takes off, flies from point A to point B, and lands."
At the time, Forbes estimated the cost of the drone could be from $200,000 and $300,000 even though EHang had not announced a price tag. EHang is based in Guangzhou, China, with additional offices in San Carlos, California.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.