#dubaidrones

The 18-inch wide drone is battery-powered, has encased rotors to protect against damage, and will use eye-recognition and fingerprint technology as security measures.

Dubai’s announcement follows hard on the heels of Amazon’s recent demonstration of a prototype mini-drone that would be used to deliver packages to customers in just 30 minutes. This mini-drone was introduced by Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos, who played a video showing the drones – also known as ‘octocopters’ – picking up items in small yellow buckets and whizzing them through the air.

Said Bezos: “I know this looks like science fiction. It’s not. We can do half-hour delivery...and we can carry objects, we think, up to 5lbs, which covers 86% of the items that we deliver.”

However, aviation experts have pointed out huge potential pitfalls to the project. For starters, there are the governing US aviation regulations that state that aircraft, including miniature drones, must have line-of-sight controls. This is because most drones lack the level of control and spatial awareness needed for self-navigations. Added to this are the challenges of blustery winds, power lines and tall buildings that are considerable obstacles to urban drone delivery in high density areas.

Still, the UAE has promised to go ahead with its plans, despite the additional challenges of blistering summer temperatures and highly aggressive sand storms.

But as foolhardy as this might seem to some, this is typical Dubai mentality.

And far more compelling than any information about Dubai that one can read in a press release...is this defiant daring spirit that draws people from around the world to the region. Read more about Dubai here.