World's First Passenger Drone Taxi in Dubai 2017 - EHang 184 in Dubai 2017
Dubai to operate World's First Passenger Drone Taxi capable of carrying a human this July. The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), in collaboration with the Chinese EHANG Company, announced that it had carried out the first test World's First Passenger Drone Taxi capable of carrying a human, branded as EHANG184 in Dubai skies. RTA is set to start the operation of the AAV as early as July this year.
The vehicle they're banking on, called the EHang 184, actually merges two of the biggest advancements in transport in recent years - hovering and self-driving technology.
The idea is that passengers will program their destination at the start of the ride, and the hover-taxi will get them there - no driver required.
The EHang 184 in Dubai is a small quadcopter drone powered by eight propellers. It can travel on a programmed course at 100 km/h (60 mph) at an altitude of 300 metres (1,000 feet), and can carry a single passenger at a time.
The vehicle is about 1.5 metres tall (5 feet), weighs approximately 200 kg (440 pounds), and can recharge in 2 hours.
In its capacity as a Dubai taxi, it will make trips to a set list of destinations up to 30 minutes away - roughly 16 km, or 10 miles - from the hover-taxi rank.
Passengers don't need to learn how to fly it, they don't need get to a pilot's license, they just need to press a button and then it vertically takes off, flies from point A to point B, and lands.
The Ehang 184 Dubai operates with a fail-safe system that will automatically land the vehicle if it senses that any component is damaged or not functioning properly.
