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In signing the agreement reached in 2017, Hoversurf offered the Dubai police its first mass production unit of the Hoverbike S3 2019 and began training agents to fly it.
Brigadier Khalid Nasser Alrazooqi, General Manager of the Dubai Police Department of Artificial Intelligence, described the eVTOL vehicle as a first responder unit used to access hard-to-reach areas. He said that he intended to operate hovercraft by 2020.
Segura-Conn said the Dubai police had the exclusive right to order as many units as she wished: "They will let us know in a month or two if they want more." .. if they want 30 or 40, we will get there for them. "
Tim Robinson, editor of Aerospace magazine, described the vehicle as "somewhat limited" when it was a potential police job, but he did not shed any money. 39, cold water on the hoverbike, adding that it "looked very fun".
He explained that eVTOL technologies are limited by current battery technology, but that advances – particularly in terms of battery power density and the introduction of new materials such as graphene – could increase flight time in the future.
Both Hoversurf and the Dubai Police have stated that they are working for this purpose, either by battery technology or by more efficient propulsion systems. Hoversurf has already developed a ducted fan system that, he says, is smaller, quieter, safer and more efficient than an equivalent thrust propeller, which it plans to add to future models.
A manufacturing site for S3 2019 has not been confirmed yet, but Segura-Conn said Hoversurf was in talks "with three companies located in different parts of the world," including Dubai.
Robinson estimated that more than 100 eVTOL projects or flying cars had already been announced. He compared this period of frenetic activity and this pioneering spirit to the beginnings of motorized flying.
"There are many different configurations: people with external rotors, sheathed fans, wings, no wings, tilt wings, tilt rotors," he declares. "Nobody knows exactly how it's going to work or who will succeed."
"I think it's a very exciting time – (a) a big time – for innovations in the aerospace industry."
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