5,000 exhibitors, 800 startups, 1,000 speakers, 100,000 attendees and untold tech updates at GITEX, but it was the automotive announcements that grabbed the spotlight this year.
Solar-powered vehicles, autonomous public transport, and flying cars… The future of the automotive industry is, literally, up in the air.
And with thousands of exhibitors vying for attention, it was Dubai’s own Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) that rolled in with a futuristic announcement that will be a reality sooner than you think: The driverless taxi. The ‘Cruise Origin’ is a multi-purpose vehicle, it has already mapped Dubai roads and it’s ready to be deployed next year.
Not to be outdone, Etisalat displayed one of the biggest surprises of the show. The government-owned telecommunications entity teamed up with Cadillac to unveil ‘the car of the future’. Complementing Dubai’s aim to achieve 25% autonomous transportation by 2030, the ‘Cadillac InnerSpace’ is a luxurious, electric, two-passenger autonomous vehicle.. The low-lying, seriously slick sports car was one of the highest viewed throughout the event.
Finally, no summary of GITEX Global 2022 would be complete without a nod to the flying car. Flying taxis have long been on the vision board of future-forward cities such as Dubai, but it was a major announcement at GITEX Global 2022 that’s highlighting just how quickly this vision could become a reality… Many experts agree that we could see flying cars in the realm of public use as early as 2025.
“Many countries are pushing towards the 2025 launch of flying cars. We are also planning the commercial production of our two-seater model from 2025,” said Tomohiro Fukuzawa, Chief Executive Officer of SkyDrive Inc.
How much will it cost to own a flying car?
The XPENG AEROHT low-altitude air mobility explorer that’s dubbed the ‘world’s safest intelligent electric flying car’. It’s fuel efficient, can reach speeds of up to 130 km/h and can hold a 560kg flight weight for a total of 35 minutes.
Footage of the flying car test drive at SkyDive Dubai is racking up millions of views, but compliance, regulation and customer safety must still be considered before these ‘cars’ are ready for sale. Dr. Brian Gu, vice-chairman and president of XPeng, who drives strategy and globalization efforts at the leading mobility company said that before you can expect the normalization of flying cars, first and foremost the company is ensuring the capability of the aircraft followed by its safety and customer compliance. Following that, ownership won’t be cheap.
Dr. Gu estimates the price of the flying cars will be ‘in line with luxury cars such as a Ferrari, Rolls-Royce and Bentley,’ according to the Khaleej Times.
DubiCars continues to monitor automotive trends, for similar updates follow the DubiCars blog.
