The first flying taxi in the world is about to arrive in Dubai. In fact, it has already debuted in Dubai, and it’s called the Volocopter. The company is hoping that the flying taxis will replace regular ones within five years.
The goal of the company is to make flying to your short stop as easy as getting an Uber or Lyft. The Volocopter took a test flight during a ceremony for Sheikh Hamdan bin Muhammed, a crown prince in Dubai. The test flight only lasted for no longer than five minutes and it didn’t go very high, but it did go smoothly. The possibility of flying vehicles being the norm in the future seem very real due to this successful test flight.
The flying drone is designed to seat two passengers, and each one will have a parachute in the event of an emergency, such as if the drone malfunctions. The drone will also have rotors and extra batteries for backup and each flight will last no longer than 30 minutes. Best of all, passengers will be allowed to choose which voloport they want the drone to land at.
The voloports are hubs where the drones will land. Each time a customer wants to fly, they will choose which port they want to depart from. The chances are customers will be able to choose their departure time and destination via an app, as one is expected to be released for the flying taxi.
The company is expected to have the drone fly on routes tracked via GPS, but the details of this will be sorted out before the drones start taking passengers. This will allow the drones to sense other aircraft in the area and any other objects that may be in its path. The idea is to make the flying vehicles similar to a flying mobile phone by taking a SIM card and putting it inside.
The drones will have a radio too, which will be for communication purposes. The chances are passengers will still be able to use their mobile phones because the drones don’t fly that high. However, if an issue were to arise, passenger would be able to use the radio.
The flying drones could be in the skies within the next five years. Between now and then, technological advances are expected to be made. There’s also a good chance that the United States will start to see similar models and services over the course of the next few years.
