Dubai’s Road and Transportation Agency to introduce self-driving taxis by July.

Dubai is a city known for its innovative technology and progressive approaches to transport. After all, the city will play host to the first Hyper loop project connecting Abu Dhabi to Dubai in a hurtling 12 minutes. And as of July, passengers will be able to ride in a self-driving taxi.

The Chinese-made Ehang 184 is an egg-shaped eight-propeller drone that can ferry passengers across the sky and high above congestion. Designed for short haul trips, the drone can carry one passenger with a maximum weight of 100kg and has a top speed of 160km/h. Similar to the Uber platform, calling for an Ehang taxi will be relatively easy and users just need to enter their destination into an app. The drone will then map the route and transport the passenger to their destination.

Although pilot-less, the drones will still be monitored from a centralized command centre. And according to the company, the drone has a “fail safe” system and if there’s a malfunction of any kind, it will automatically land at the nearest safe destination. Could these self-driving taxis really ease ground traffic congestion and be a viable mode of transport?

The idea of flying taxis all seems a bit surreal. The line “Newspaper taxis appear on the shore, waiting to take you away. Climb in the back with your head in the clouds…” in the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds is our current thought soundtrack.

The sky really does appear limitless and the future is exciting. But we remain skeptical that this venture will take off.

Article by Natasha Laging

Source: http://www.motoring.com.au