Dubai witnesses aviation history with world’s first self-flying taxi

Dubai’s Jumeirah Beach Residence saw a world first as a new two-seater self-flying taxi made its ‘proof of concept flight’. According to a government statement, the self-flying taxi will “be used for the world’s first self-flying taxi service set to be introduced by Dubai’s Road and Transport Authority (RTA)”, with passengers being shuttled across the city in the pilotless vehicle. Plans for the taxi were first unveiled at The World Government Summit in Dubai seven months ago. It has been developed and built by Volocopter, a German manufacturer of autonomous air vehicles. In a statement from Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, he commented that: “After the remarkable success of the first driverless metro in the region, we are glad to witness today the test flight of the Autonomous Air Taxi. This is another testament to our commitment to driving positive change. We are constantly exploring opportunities to serve the community and advance the prosperity and happiness of society.”
Michael Rudolph, Head, Aviation Regulations and Safety, Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, is quoted as saying: “This is a something that has never been done before. We are so happy that this happened in Dubai. From a DCAA perspective, this proof-of-concept flight makes history and we are proud to be a support entity,” while also adding that the drone was monitored by a new drone tracking system newly implemented by the DCAA to ensure the utmost safety.
According to Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the RTA the taxi “has a variety of unique features that include top security and safety standards, and multiple redundancies in all critical components such as propellers, motors, power source, electronics and flight controls. It is also fitted with optional emergency parachutes, nine independent battery systems, and a battery quick-charge and plug-in system, which takes two hours to reach full charge in the prototype version, a time that will be significantly reduced in the production version.”
The taxi will be powered by clean electricity, with the current prototype having a maximum flight time of 30 minutes as a speed of 50kph, while it has a top flight speed of 100kph. It is understood that the taxi will be integrated with public transport systems in Dubai, including Dubai Metro, Dubai Tram, public buses, marine transit modes and taxis.