Dubai and Volocopter, a German startup, have struck a deal to begin testing their autonomous air taxis already as soon as the last quarter of 2017. Testing will take place over the period of 5 years & if successful, we'll be buzzing around above Dubai and other big cities already in 2022. Cool, huh?
Volocopter's new baby, the 2x, that was cosen for this experiment, features 18 rotors, 9 independent battery systems & an autonomous control system.
Max speed: around 100 km/h
Max distance: approx 30 minutes
Volocopter claims the 2x features the highest safety standards, which means that all safety-relevant components are present multiple times. So should a battery or half of the engines fail, you should still be able to cruise safely back home to change your pants ;)
Read more at volocopter.com