Dubai's autonomous flying taxi has finally taken to the sky

Dubai's autonomous flying taxis have finally been cleared for takeoff.

The self-styled "Future City" just held the first test flight for its autonomous aerial taxi (AAT) service, showing off the craft that will ferry passengers around the city for what the Dubai Road and Transport Authority (RTA) is calling the world's first self-flying taxi service.

The two-seat electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle flew for about five minutes at heights of around 200 meters, according to Reuters. There were no passengers in the craft for the trial flight, which was attended by the city's transportation authorities and Crown Prince of Dubai Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed.

The craft is made by German aerospace company Volocopter after a deal with the RTA back in June. The current prototype has 18 rotors and nine independent battery systems. It can handle about 30 minutes of flight time at a cruise speed (around 30 mph), but it can zip up to a top speed of 100 km/h (about 62 mph). The RTA says those specs should "evolve" in the actual production version of the AATs, so they could be faster and fly longer by the time the program has developed beyond the trial phase.

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The trial flight is the first step in a proposed five-year collaboration between the the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority and the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority to establish a suitable framework for the taxi service. Those efforts will focus on settling legal and policy concerns like certifications, along with more practical matters like identifying the aerial routes the crafts will fly and designing the take-off and landing points around the city.

If all goes according to schedule, Dubai could be filled with autonomous flying taxis as early as 2022. The RTA's project might not be the only show in town, however; Uber has tabbed the city as one of its targets to launch eVOTL service (in partnership with the RTA), with a goal to debut a working prototype or even conduct passenger flights during the Expo 2020 event.