News

Air Taxis Fly Over Jerusalem As Israel Creates Airspace Network

Demo flights of the Chinese-made Ehang two-seater air taxi have commenced from Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital.

Published

3 years ago

September 19, 2023

Nour Nasir

air taxis fly over jerusalem as israel creates airspace network

AFP

Israel has expanded air taxi test flights across urban areas of Jerusalem in preparation for a new drone delivery network of heavy cargo and passengers.

The demonstration, which showed how drones could ease congestion in the busy city, is part of a $15.7 million government pilot project known as the Israel National Drone Initiative (INDI).

The tests began with a half-hour flight of a long-distance Chinese-made electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) drone from Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. The setting for the tests is significant, as the government plans to use the drones for life-saving missions, as well as cargo and passenger purposes.

“What we’re looking at here is how Israel’s National Drone Initiative is expanding its scope to move beyond transporting packages to transporting human beings,” explained Daniella Partem, senior director at the Israel Innovation Authority. “We are looking to improve the economic viability of this model and advance connectivity in urban areas and further afield around the world”.

israel drone air taxi trial

The air taxi test was performed by Dronery, a subsidiary of the Israeli drone delivery fleet operator Cando Drones. The fully autonomous EH216 aircraft can carry a 250-kilogram payload for 30 kilometers using an intelligent command-and-control system that includes a real-time video feed.

“The possibility of flying the aerial taxi in the early stages within an urban area as complex as the Hadassah Medical Center is a practical realization of the Transportation Ministry’s belief [in smart transportation],” said Cando Drones CEO Yoeli Or. “Cando and Dronery are the first in Israel to bring and fly heavy drones capable of flying significant distances and carrying over 200 kilograms”.

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During a recent June demonstration, the startup AIR also tested its own all-electric eVTOL, known as AIR ONE. The craft features collapsible wings for easy storage and is marketed as an everyday alternative for short city commutes.

Other Israeli companies involved in the INDI project include Airwayz Drones, a provider of AI-based smart management systems for drone fleets; HighLander, which has developed a traffic management system for drones; and Robotican, a producer of ground and air-based autonomous robotic systems.

News

Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

6 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

Also Read: Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power

The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.