Now That We Have Uber, We Need To Work On Passenger Drones
After the Shreveport City Council voted 7-0 in favor of allowing ride services like Uber and Lyft to operate in our fair cities, it got me thinking - what is the next step? Mankind has never been cool with "sufficient" or "good enough." That's why there are 3 different Big Mac sizes, why all of our fountain drinks have grown in size by about 3 billion percent, and why you have buyers remorse the moment you un-box your 50-inch tv (when did they start making 51-inch tv's?).
So, in the spirit of our species penchant for super-sizing everything - I want to jump on this next-level-ride-service train before it leaves the station. In that vein, I have been researching the next big thing is personal people movers.
What you are looking at is the Chinese EHang 184 passenger drone. This technological marvel has a range of 31 miles with a medium sized cargo area for your stuff. You just strap in, enter your destination in the on-board GPS and presto! You are soaring to the market like Tony Stark (if he did his own shopping).
If you think this is the stuff of the distant future, think again! Since this Jetson-like vehicle made a huge splash at CES 2016 - several cities have become intoxicated with the possibility of taking personal transportation into a 3rd dimension. Dubai will be the first official city to put them use, promising a fleet in full operation by July of this year. Don't worry, you will (most likely) have a chance to see them on this side of the pond in the coming year as well. Las Vegas is petitioning the FAA now to pave the way (or clear the air) for EHang operation in Sin City.
I think this would be awesome for the SBC! No waiting for that jerk to figure out how to merge on I-20, no listening to whatever the cab driver is listening to (is that Island Polka?), and no delays due to traffic!