Intel has been planning for a number of years to carry passengers in its drones one day. That was the main reason behind the partnership with Germany’s Volocopter. This year, we saw what the future may look like this week at the CES as the Volocopter made its maiden flight in the United States.
This was first introduced as a flying taxi concept back in 2013 and has come a long way since then. Manned flights have been completed in Germany whereas unmanned flights have been completed over Dubai, which hopes to use these drones as a part of an autonomous flying taxi service somewhere in the next decade. You can see the overview of the technology in the video below:
The Volocopter lifted off onstage towards the end of the Intel CEO Brian Krzanich’s keynote. It lifted off for a small while on stage and was tethered to the ground and behind bars as a safety precaution. Intel’s flight control software is at the heart of the drone and CEO Brian Krzanich has already been the very first passenger in Germany last month.
“That was fantastic,” Krzanich said once back on the ground. “That was the best flight I have ever had. Everybody will fly one of these someday.” This has brought the concept of flying taxis much more closer and with so many big names working towards the same goal, it is only a matter of time before it becomes a reality.
You can watch it in flight here:
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