The First Test Flight of a Passenger Drone...

[brooklynite]

Boarding Area:

The First Test Flight of a Passenger Drone Took Off in Dubai

Dubai had started talking about this taxi drone service last year and they are serious about getting it going. Today, Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed was able to take the first (after safety pilots of course!) flight in this new drone as it flew him up 200 meters for 5 minutes.

The drone is the creation of a German company and Dubai is eager to be a big customer. This drone that was used today carries two passengers and the goal is to let it carry passengers for up to 30 minutes. Safety is of course a big concern and they are making sure that there will be plenty of backups and even parachutes.

With consumer drones having serious avoidance detection and manueveruability built-in, it is obvious that this same technology can be scaled and used for drones like this. Dubai hopes to have an Uber type service of passenger drones in place within 5 years by allowing customers to call for a Volocopter (as the company is called) while waiting at designated pads.

[FLPanhandle]

1. Uber passenger drones are in our near future

I can't wait.

[misanthrope]

2. Yeah, this is wonderful

Now when there are mechanical issues, instead of sitting on the roadway or roadside we can just enjoy one of the plethora of drones crashing onto our property, houses, cars or even those antiquated and anachronistic pedestrians. And that's just how it could affect homo sapiens, without considering non-human animals.

Filling our skies with flying machines of varying sizes and speeds is going to carry all sorts of unanticipated consequences. We are well on our way to utterly trashing our world so I guess this will only hasten it.

[Liberal In Texas]

3. Bet it happens faster than we think. n/t