Dubai staged a test flight for what it said would soon be the world's first drone taxi service under an ambitious plan by the United Arab Emirates city to lead the Arab world in innovation.

日前，迪拜举行了一场试飞，这个就阿联酋一项雄心勃勃的计划来说，它将提供世界上第一个无人驾驶出租车服务，而该计划将引领阿拉伯世界的创新。

The flying taxi developed by German drone firm Volocopter resembles a small, two-seater helicopter cabin topped by a wide hoop² studded with 18 propellers³.

德国无人机制造商Volocopter开发的这款飞行出租车，类似于一个小型的双座直升机机舱，它的顶部有一个宽环，上面有18个螺旋桨。

It was unmanned for its maiden⁴ test run in a ceremony arranged for Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin¹ Mohammed.

在为迪拜王储谢赫·哈姆丹·本·穆罕默德举行的仪式上，这辆无人驾驶车进行了其首次测试飞行。

Meant to fly without remote control guidance and with a maximum flight duration of 30 minutes, it comes with plenty of fail-safes in case of trouble: back-up batteries, rotors and, for a worst case scenario⁵, a couple of parachutes.

此次飞行没有遥控制导，时间最长为30分钟。在遇到故障时，它还会有大量的故障保护措施，如备用电池、旋翼，在最坏的情况下，它还备有几个降落伞。

Volocopter is in a race with more than a dozen well-funded European and U.S. firms, each with its own science fiction-inspired vision for creating a new form of urban transport that is a cross between a driverless electric car and a short-haul, vertical⁶ takeoff-and-landing aircraft.

制造商Volocopter目前的竞争对手包括十多家资金雄厚的欧洲和美国公司，他们每家公司都有自己的科学幻想，那就是创造一种新型的城市交通工具。这种交通工具将介于无人驾驶电动汽车和短途、垂直起降飞机之间。

These include aerospace⁷ giant Airbus, which aims to put a self-piloting taxi in the air by 2020; Kitty Hawk⁸, a company backed by Google co-founder Larry Page; and Uber, which is working with partners on its own flying taxi strategy.

这其中就包括航空巨头Airbus公司，其目标就是，到2020年将一辆自动驾驶的出租车升到空中；其他得还包括由谷歌联合创始人拉里·佩奇支持的Kitty Hawk公司，以及正在与合作伙伴就其飞行出租车战略展开合作的Uber。

"Implementation⁹ would see you using your smartphone, having an app, and ordering a Volocopter to the next voloport near you. The volocopter would come and autonomously¹¹ pick you up and take you to your destination," CEO Florian Reuter said.

Volocopter首席执行官弗洛里安·罗伊特表示：“用户可以用智能手机上的App，就近预约一个Volocopter来接你。它会自动来接你，并把你带到目的地。”

"It already is capable of flying based on GPS tracks today, and we will implement¹⁰ full sense capability¹², also dealing¹³ with unknown obstacles on the way," he added.

他补充道：“当前，它已经能够基于GPS轨迹飞行，我们将实现完全的感知能力，同时处理未知的障碍。”