Dubai will test 2-seat drone taxis later this year

Dubai, which is dubbed the 'Future City', is preparing to introduce a new service you've never seen anywhere in the world: unmanned passenger aircraft.

Last February, Dubai's drone taxi service (AAT) was demonstrated at the Global Government Summit. Now, this new service has officially opened in Dubai. Dubai's Road and Transport Authority (RTA) has announced a new test program for this type of vehicle and signaled an unprecedented deal with German airline company, Volocopter. Under the agreement, Volocopter will provide aircraft for the new RTA project.

Unmanned taxis will carry passengers on designated routes, spread throughout the city. The trial period will begin around the fourth quarter of this year. The RTA hopes to continue testing this vehicle for five years, until their national laws allow for drone taxis to operate on a wider scale.

Drone taxi in the sky of Dubai.

The first version of the aerial taxi project used an unmanned passenger plane with a seat, weighing 500 pounds, called Ehang 184 . Dubai's RTA did not explain why the agency switched to Volocopter's aircraft, but said it wanted passengers to be assured of the safety of the service. The aircraft will be included in the Volocopter 2X branded test, with two seats. This is an advantage over the Ehang aircraft, only one seat.

These aircraft are fully powered by electricity. They have 18 rotors and 9 independent battery systems that can suspend operations to keep the plane in the air if there is any incident in the middle of the flight. Volocopter confirmed that fast charging batteries can operate within 40 minutes, fully serving flights with a maximum flight time of 30 minutes. It is at standard flight speed (50km / h) and the fastest flight speed is 100km / h.

Initially, this project is scheduled to be implemented next month but RTA has delayed the testing period to the fourth quarter of this year to ensure that the system must be ready before the aircraft takes off. RTA said that they are cooperating closely with Dubai Civil Aviation Authority to meet operational and legal guidelines, along with more accurate standards for exploiting this potential taxi service. They need to make sure that all parts must operate smoothly before commercial aircraft are officially put into operation.

This is just the starting point for flying taxis. Many businesses such as Airbus are also implementing their own projects, but Dubai is a pioneer. The city is one of the first two destinations of the Uber initiative. The project includes plans to create a model and even potential passenger planes, which are expected to be launched at Dubai's Expo 2020 event.