first passenger drone in Dubai - Ehang 184

Self-flying Passenger Drones: Will Be Hovering Soon In Dubai’s Skies

Many companies are looking for the viability of idea of ‘flying cars’ and technologists are trying to build viable and safe autonomous, flying taxis, in order to simplify the urban transportation hassles. The city of Dubai has taken a leap in this plan and has announced its plan of launching passenger drones by July 2017.

Where Airbus, Uber and other companies are still in talks of creating vehicles for testing and start with transporting cargo using such flying taxis or drones, Matt al-Tayer, head of Dubai’s Roads and Transportation Department announced the beginning of passenger service using flying taxi. They announced this in a World Government Summit. They mentioned that it would be an advanced drone, which is Ehang 184 – an autonomous quad-opener electric drone – it will fly the passengers along pre-determined routes and will be monitored and controlled remotely from a centralized command center. The Chinese model, Ehang 184, has already taken a test flight in skies of Dubai.

How it works?

Mr. Al Tayer quoted that the introduction of AAV will be a big step towards innovative and smart mobility solutions. It will contribute in reducing city traffic in a major way. Etisalat is a prime network provider, who provided 4G data network. This network was used to communicate between the control center at ground and the AAV. It also provided the support for continued communication between control center and AAV using LTE and M2M technologies.

Watch the video released by Roads and Transport Authority of Dubai:

What is EHANG 184?

EHANG 184 is an Autonomous Aerial Vehicle (AAV) developed by Chinese entrepreneurs. It is claimed by the company as the safest, smartest, eco-friendly and low altitude  AAV, which is an aerial transportation solution for commuting between medium and short distances. Some of the interesting and important features of EHANG 184 are as follows:

Safety: EHANG 184 has exceptional safety management system, in which flight can execute the normal operation plan, even if one set of power system are not operating well. It is powered by electricity and is made up with 100% green technology.

Automation: The EHANG AAV is fully automated with smart automation. The take-off and landing points will be predefined and pre-set with the AAV and it will fly in an inverted U shape pathway. The landing of AAV will be managed with the landing camera, which will automatically position on the landing targets accurately.

Fail Safe system: EHANG AAV has been built with Ehang fail-safe system which is embedded in it. In case of any defect or malfunctioning of any mechanisms or elements, the AAV will ensure the safety by landing immediately in the nearest possible area.

Low Altitude Command Centre: The AAV will always be connected with the low-altitude command center, which why it can be available to fly for 24*7. If weather conditions are extreme, the command center will not enable AAV to fly to ensure safety.

Unique application system: 184 AAV can be operated using a simple but unique application system, which is simple as well as advanced such that it takes only a single click to take-off and land.

ehang 184 passenger drone

Ehang 184 AAV has set the world record for being world’s first passenger drone that can transport a single human being from place X to place Y at an altitude of more than 11000 feet. It is being claimed that passengers will be able to select a preset destination, probably using a touch screen for a mobile app. AAV can travel up to 30 minutes with the maximum speed of about 100kph (60mph). Every command from passenger will go through an app to the control center and all commands will go to AAV from the control center based on the ground. The first passenger drone will fly in Dubai sky under the guidelines of the RTA with automated controls for flying and speed of the flight.

How will flying taxis be booked in Dubai? 

It is being estimated that the flying taxi booking in Dubai will be done by passengers using the mobile app, which seems to be the most convenient way. The application may have features similar to all other booking applications. The booking mobile app might be used to select the preset route map configuration. The automated algorithm of the drone will be defined by the programmers so that passengers can choose from the suitable travel points. This invention is definitely going to be helpful for managing the traffic congestion in the city.

Check out the following video to understand how Ehang 184 has been made.
Drone industry and Drone applications

Drone industry has brought various opportunities for drone operators and businesses. App developers carry the responsibility to turn the drone technology into something that will be beneficial to businesses or human safety. Drone applications need to have simple to use interfaces that would give astounding experiences to operators, who can manage rotors, plan the path of the drone, keep the drone in the air, collect useful data from onboard sensors, etc. Developing applications for drones can be compared with developing mobile applications. Drone apps need UI developed for controllers. Some of the UIs can even run on mobile devices.

Krify has started to scratch the area of drones and app development. There are a lot of exciting and new challenges for developers. Krify is a multinational software development company with core competency in mobile app development, web design and development and digital marketing. Contact us to get the free quote for your project.

 

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