OREANDA-NEWS. The first flying taxi is planned to start operating in 2025 in Russia. This was announced by Alexander Atamanov, the head of the company specializing in the creation of drones-taxi «Hover». The presentation of the flying taxi took place on Monday, January 25 at the small Luzhnikov Arena in Moscow, TASS reports.

According to Atamanov, at the first stage, taxis will fly on safe routes: over industrial zones, rivers, canals, and overpasses. He noted, that the developers will have to prove, that the new technology is safe, it will take time. At the same time, legislation will be adopted that will allow the operation of such equipment.

The air taxi is a passenger drone, that can lift two people into the air at the same time. It will be controlled by a digital system, that completely eliminates the passenger from control and monitors safety in the sky. Passengers will be in a protective capsule that will take the impact in the event of an accident. In case of an emergency, the car with passengers will be lowered to the ground by a rescue parachute.

The head of the Moscow Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovative Development, Alexey Fursin, said that all major megacities are testing similar aircraft, and Moscow does not intend to lag behind it's competitors.

Earlier, the TV channel «360» reported, that engineers of the National Research Technological University «MISIS» have assembled a prototype of a flying taxi-drone.