Tomorrow’s Tech: Dubai police take to the skies on futuristic hover bikes

Dubai is the unofficial world capital of futuristic technology; it already has the world’s tallest building–the Burj Khalifa–and the world’s fastest police car–the Bugatti Veyron.

Now, the Dubai Police are striving towards having the world’s first hovering police vehicle. However, even in our rapidly advancing technological world, a hovering police bike seems too futuristic-more like something you would see in a movie scene. It sounds more like a gimmick than a practical vehicle.

Using drone technology, a new Russian start up company, Hoversurf, has created a rideable drone. It is called the Scorpion-3 and the Dubai police are buying several of them.

Dubai already has an elite police force consisting of many sport and supercars, and now they are looking to add another world’s first to their elite collection. Dubai has been shown prototypes of, and will be adding the Hoversurf Scorpion-3 to their collection. A video was released by Hoversurf earlier this year showing off the Scorpion-3 with the Dubai police. Dubai has signed an agreement with the company to buy Scorpion-3’s sometime this summer.

The Hoversurf Scorpion-3 is not like any other vehicle. It is an electric quadcopter hover bike. It can soar at a top speed of 70km/h (44mph), with a full charge it will be able to carry one person up to 600lbs for up to 25 minutes and it will be able to hover five meters (16.4 feet) above the ground.

But with a total flying time of only 25 minutes, the Scorpion-3 is not a practical police patrol vehicle. Any time police vehicles are required the situation at hand usually lasts more than 25 minutes. Such as, a police chase, crowd control or patrolling the streets; the Scorpion-3 would not be able to be used in these situations past this time without the need to recharge. A potential solution could be for police cars to carry the hover bikes in a trailer or have them stationed around specific areas on standby. It is also possible that Hoversurf will invent more efficient and longer lasting batteries to enable the Scorpion-3 to patrol the Dubai streets. The streets are likely not setup for low flying vehicles. As such, road signs, telephone poles, tunnels and pedestrians are all potential hazards. Imagine a Dubai police officer being clothes-lined by a telephone wire or crashing into a road sign while on duty.

The Dubai police will continue to put these bikes through rigorous testing before they are deemed street ready. Even with these downsides, the vehicles have some advantages: they won’t get stuck in traffic jams, they can fly above land, water and over crowds. To keep Dubai’s citizens safe, any advantage law enforcement can get that could potentially protect innocent people is worth investing in. When ready, the Hoversurf Scorpion-3 will be a perfect fit for Dubai’s already elite force and maintain Dubai’s futuristic image.