Volocopter puts its sky taxi through its paces above the skies of Dubai
As more companies experiment with new flying taxi vehicles and commercial concepts Volocopter is increasingly finding itself edging into the lead.
Key takeaways
- The all-electric 18-rotor vehicle took to the skies for the first time over the city on Monday as the city looks to establish what would be world's first self-flying taxi service.
- Designed to autonomously carry two passengers from point A to point B without a pilot, the Volocopter in its current form can fly for 30 minutes at a time with a top speed of 100 km/h (62 mph).
- The trials of Dubai's Autonomous Air Taxi will take place over five years.
Cite or link to this article
Griffin, M. (2017) 'Volocopter puts its sky taxi through its paces above the skies of Dubai', 311 Institute, 26 September. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/volocopter-puts-its-sky-taxi-through-its-paces-above-the-skies-of-dubai/ (Accessed: 1 October 2026).
Dubai is moving full steam ahead toward a futuristic skyline dotted with modern skyscrapers and flying taxis by kicking off trials of the Volocopter two-seater aircraft. The all-electric 18-rotor vehicle took to the skies for the first time over the city on Monday as the city looks to establish what would be world's first self-flying taxi service.
The Volocopter first emerged in 2013 as an audacious electric aircraft, and has gathered quite a bit of momentum in the subsequent years through a series of successful test flights and, more recently, a $29 million investment from Daimler. Designed to autonomously carry two passengers from point A to point B without a pilot, the Volocopter in its current form can fly for 30 minutes at a time with a top speed of 100 km/h (62 mph).
See the sky taxi in action
Dubai announced its plans to trial the Volocopter back in June earlier this year, and has rebranded it as the Autonomous Air Taxi (AAT) for its purposes. It is hoped the aircraft will play a role in having autonomous vehicles handle a quarter of all passenger journeys in the city by 2030.
"The Autonomous Air Taxi has a variety of unique features that include top security and safety standards, and multiple redundancies in all critical components such as propellers, motors, power source, electronics and flight controls," says HE Mattar Al Tayer, Director General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of Dubai's Road and Transport Authority (RTA), "it is also fitted with optional emergency parachutes, nine independent battery systems, and a battery quick-charge and plug-in system, which takes two hours to reach full charge in the prototype version, a time that will be significantly reduced in the production version."
Nobody was in the vehicle as it made its maiden flight over Dubai, near Jumeirah Beach Park, but the Crown Prince of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan, was on hand to press the launch button and kick off the autonomous test flight, and watch on as it beamed back live shots from the sky. He also received a briefing on how the air taxi will be integrated with other public transport systems such as the Hyperloop, a Mach 1 "train in a tube," which should make its Dubai debut in 2021, and how the public will be able to book flights and track its flight paths through a smartphone app. The trials of Dubai's Autonomous Air Taxi will take place over five years.
Source: Government of Dubai
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Why does this matter?
As more companies experiment with new flying taxi vehicles and commercial concepts Volocopter is increasingly finding itself edging into the lead.
About the author
Matthew Griffin Founder, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
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Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 15-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
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Sources and further reading
- Volocopter volocopter.com
- successful test flights newatlas.com
- Road and Transport Authority rta.ae
- Government of Dubai mediaoffice.ae
Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 26 September 2017. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2017). Volocopter puts its sky taxi through its paces above the skies of Dubai. 311 Institute. https://www.311institute.com/volocopter-puts-its-sky-taxi-through-its-paces-above-the-skies-of-dubai/
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