Dubai is looking to launch self-driving hover taxis this July, and the country has already tested a Chinese made prototype, according to Dubai's Transport Authority. Dubai is looking to make a quarter of its means of transport autonomous by the year 2030. The Chinese self-driving hover taxi, called the EHang 184 can travel a programmed course at 100km/h, at an altitude of 300 meters. The hover taxi being an electric vehicle, can charge fully in two hours and can fly up to 30 minutes.
All a passenger needs to do is select a destination — the taxi will take off by itself, travel the route, and land in the chosen spot monitored by a ground control center. The quadcopter (hover taxi) is powered by eight propellers, and has highly accurate sensors that can resist extreme temperatures. Mattar al-Tayer, the Head of the Transport Authority said, "The autonomous aerial vehicle exhibited at the World Government Summit is not just a model. We have already experimented the vehicle in a flight in the Dubai sky and we are making every effort to start the operation of the autonomous aerial vehicle in July 2017."