Flying taxis are expected to hit Abu Dhabi and Dubai skies as early as 2025, a year earlier than projected, the chief executive of US company Archer Aviation has said.
The use of eVTOL – electric vertical take-off and landing – aircraft has the potential to cut travel times significantly between the two emirates, Adam Goldstein said at the Investopia conference in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
California-based Archer first teamed up with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office in October, with plans at that time to start all-electric air taxi operations in the Emirates in 2026.
"As early as 2025 and as late as 2026, you will see eVTOLs flying around Abu Dhabi [and] Dubai ... trips that used to take 60 to 90 minutes on the ground, we can fly you in 10 minutes," he said.
In another example, a normal trip from downtown Manhattan to New Jersey's Newark Airport would take only nine minutes in an eVTOL compared to more than an hour by road, according to Archer's website.
"It will make everybody's lives better, will be very safe and very enjoyable experience and will be the start of an aviation revolution," Mr Goldstein said.
He did not explicitly say these flying cars will be the Midnight eVTOL the company is developing. An eVTOL is a variety of a VTOL aircraft that hovers, takes off and lands vertically using electric power.
The first Midnight eVTOLs will be piloted, which would be "the best way to actually get through the adoption period", considering "millions" would be interested in riding these next-generation vehicles, Mr Goldstein said.
The Midnight aircraft can carry up to four passengers – plus the pilot – and can fly up to 161km at a speed of up to 241kph.
Being positioned by Archer as a potential replacement for helicopters, "eVTOLs have tremendous benefits that go beyond being sustainable", including being quiet and "very, very safe, [having] redundancies all over the vehicle so no single points of failure", he said.
"And because they're electric, they can be scaled at very high rates and can be flown a lot, driving the total overall cost down."
Integrating autonomous capabilities, the industry's cornerstone technology that is being positioned to ultimately result in pilot-less eVTOLs, will be "the path to scaling [operations and adoption]" of these aircraft, he said.
The UAE has sought to become a leader in smart transport systems as part of its efforts to promote and integrate sustainability.
This month, Dubai firmed up its plans to introduce flying taxis to the emirate by 2026, with agreements signed on Sunday with Joby Aviation and Skyports Infrastructure.
However, while it has been agreed operations will start by early 2026, California-based Joby is targeting initial operations as early as 2025.
Another California VTOL maker, Odys Aviation, this month said it expected VTOLs in GCC skies by 2028.
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Brief scores:
Toss: Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi, chose to field
Environment Agency: 193-3 (20 ov)
Ikhlaq 76 not out, Khaliya 58, Ahsan 55
Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi: 194-2 (18.3 ov)
Afridi 95 not out, Sajid 55, Rizwan 36 not out
Result: Pakhtunkhwa won by 8 wickets
More on animal trafficking
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
How does ToTok work?
The calling app is available to download on Google Play and Apple App Store
To successfully install ToTok, users are asked to enter their phone number and then create a nickname.
The app then gives users the option add their existing phone contacts, allowing them to immediately contact people also using the application by video or voice call or via message.
Users can also invite other contacts to download ToTok to allow them to make contact through the app.
What is tokenisation?
Tokenisation refers to the issuance of a blockchain token, which represents a virtually tradable real, tangible asset. A tokenised asset is easily transferable, offers good liquidity, returns and is easily traded on the secondary markets.
