- 25 Oct 2017 02:23 PM
- 0
Dubai is Electric
Germany’s Volocopter (previously known as “e-volo”) conducted the first public flight of its VC200 in Dubai on Sept. 25 (shown). Flight testing of the prototype for Volocopter’s 2X two-seat production vehicle will “be used for the world’s first self-flying taxi service set to be introduced” by Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA). The Crown Prince of Dubai, Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, witnessed the maiden flight of the Autonomous Air Taxi (AAT). The aircraft was also on display at the GITEX Technology Week and at Expo 2020 Dubai.
At GITEX, the Dubai police force also signed a memorandum of understanding with Russian company Hoversurf to begin testing the Scorpion-3 eVTOL hoverbike. The company also “received an invitation to open mass production in the Dubai area.”
Digi Robotics, with facilities in London and Dubai, released a concept video of its 6-propeller manned distributed electric propulsion Droxi eVTOL air taxi and unmanned DroFire firefighting variant. At GITEX, the company displayed a full-scale mock-up of its DroFire. Dubai Civil Defence (DCD) is interested in introducing the drone for fire-fighting support operations and monitoring.