Dubai Police testing hoverbike for accessing hard to reach areas

While American police struggle to equip officers with body cameras, Dubai’s police continue to drift further into the future and make the world’s authorities red with envy.

The Dubai Police have begun training crews to ride Hoversurf’s S3 2019 Hoverbike, an electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle capable of hovering above the ground and speeding forward. They’re not unlike the speeder bikes seen in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

According to CNN, the Dubai Police has started training two crews to ride the Hoverbike as part of a “first responder unit used to access hard to reach areas.”

Though the force only has one Hoverbike right now and hopes to have them ready for real use by 2020, Hoversurf insists it’s ready to build upwards of 40 if the Dubai Police orders them.

The $150,000 Hoverbike is made of carbon fiber, but still weighs 253 pounds. It has four rotors for taking off vertically up to a recommended 16 feet off the ground, according to the company.

And it’s fast, too. Hoversurf says the flying bike can cruise at a maximum 60 miles per hour. Flight time is not so long, though: only 10-25 minutes with a pilot. However, in drone mode without a pilot, the Hoverbike can fly for up to 40 minutes.

You can see the Hoverbike in action in the video below:

This isn’t the first time Dubai police has flirted with futuristic vehicles. In the past, it’s added a Bugatti Chiron, Lamborghini Aventador, and all-electric BMW i3s.

Similarly, the Dubai Taxi Company has been operating a fleet of Tesla cabs since earlier this year with plans to add more.

Whether other police forces around the world will follow Dubai and adopt Hoverbikes is up in the air.  Not every country can afford to blow $150K on a flying bike, y’know.