From above it may look like an irritating wasp, but the Ehang 184 is actually an autonomous drone which is set to be used by Dubai’s transportation agency to ferry passengers around the city this summer.

Yup – their summer is indeed over June / July.

More from The Telegraph:

The Ehang is a drone that can fly without human direction. It can take one person on a journey up to 23 minutes long.

Designed to be secure, the autonomous vehicle has a “fail safe” system, according to the company, that prompts it to land in the nearest place if anything malfunctions or disconnects. It also communicates via encrypted channels.

[It] is electric-powered and can travel for about 31 miles with a person and bag that weigh up to 100kg. It can go at speeds of up to 63 miles an hour and takes two hours to charge fully.

Its propellers fold inwards as it lands so it can fit in a single car parking space.

“This is not only a model, we have actually experimented with this vehicle flying in Dubai’s skies,” said Mattar al-Tayer, head of Dubai’s transportation agency.

Hailing a drone for personal use might look vaguely familiar:

Entering your destination on a map, the drone then figures out the route and transports the passenger. While it can’t fly directly, it has to hop from one set landing spot to anther.

Look how cute it is:

However, Dubai isn’t the first city to show interest in the drone – last summer (still June/July vibes) Las Vegas announced that it would start trialling the drones for public use.

And Cape Town should totally be the next city to get on this.

I was slowly dying on Monday morning when I drove into the city from the south, spending an hour on the M3 between the Wynberg turnoff and UCT. The worst was checking a whole lot of Vespas drive past with no worry in the world.

[Pro Tip: For those of you who don’t have a Vespa, you can get a discount on one if you email Seth on editor@2oceansvibe.com]

[source:telegraph]