AT TIMES it can feel like we are living in an episode of “Travel Futurama”. This week: flying drone taxis.
Dubai, a city that sometimes seems to inhabit a time zone five years ahead of the rest of the planet, has embraced another improbable travel innovation, to go alongside its enthusiasm for hyperloop trains and long driverless metro lines. This week, the Emirati metropolis announced it is to test passenger-carrying drones in its skies by July.
The unpiloted drone taxis won’t exactly replace the traditional earthbound sort, since they will be able to carry only one passenger, who together with luggage cannot weigh more than 100 kilograms (220 pounds). And it will have a range of just 50 kilometres (31 miles), or half an hour of flying time. But if it works, the long-term implications are huge not only for Dubai, which has among the world’s <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/10/why-are-dubai-and-abu-dhabis-roads-some-of-the-worlds-most-dangerous/246816/"…Continue reading
Mickael Marsali 