Flying Robot Taxis Coming To Vegas (video inside)

Flying Robot Taxis Coming To Vegas (video inside)

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Chinese manufacturer EHang has been granted permission to conduct testing for its people-carrying autonomous drone in Las Vegas.

The EHang 184 was unveiled at the recent CES 2016 event and could represent a revolution in personal transport. It is essentially a small personal helicopter designed to transport a single passenger. However, unlike traditional helicopters, this one doesn’t have a single large rotor above the vehicle’s body, but four rotors underneath, much like many widely-available drones.

Locally-based Review Journal reports that EHang will begin testing in the state later this year. Nevada hopes with this move to eventually integrate the technology into the state’s transport system.

“I personally look forward to the day when drone taxis are part of Nevada’s transportation system,” said a spokesperson for the Nevada governor’s economic development office.

The EHang 184 is an electrically powered autonomous vehicle that can fly a passenger at sea level for 23 minutes on a single two-hour charge. At greater heights, it can fly at up to just over 100 km/h for 10 minutes.

Using the machine is supposedly incredibly easy. All a passenger needs to do is climb aboard and enter their destination in an app on their phone. The drone is able to map the journey, navigate the route, and avoid obstacles with no external assistance.

There are some limitations, however. The drone can’t directly fly to any random destination, but instead hops from one EHang landing spot to another. Still, for readily available air travel this seems like a minor drawback.