DUBAI - The flying motorbike is back in Dubai – and you could see the police riding one in the not-too-distant future.

A year after California-based startup Hoversurf showcased its hoverbike at tech expo GITEX in the white and green livery of the Dubai Police, the company has returned with a new model and evidence its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicle might be, well, taking off.

Making good on a deal signed in 2017, Hoversurf has now gifted Dubai Police its first serial production unit of the S3 2019 Hoverbike and has begun training officers to fly it.

Brigadier Khalid Nasser Alrazooqi, general director of Dubai Police’s artificial intelligence department, described the eVTOL vehicle as a first responder unit used to access hard to reach areas. He said he aims to have hoverbikes in action by 2020.

“Currently we have two crews already training (to pilot the hoverbike) and we’re increasing the number,” he told CNN. Hoversurf chief operating officer Joseph Segura-Conn explained that ideal candidates will be able to ride a motorcycle and have drone operating experiences. Video of one officer learning to pilot the hoverbike appeared online last month.

Robinson estimated over 100 eVTOL or flying car projects have already been announced. He compared this period of frenzied activity and pioneering spirit to the early days of powered flight.

“There’s lots of different configurations: people with external rotors, ducted fans, wings, no wings, tilt wings, tilt rotors,” he said. “No one knows exactly how it’s going to pan out or who is going to be successful.”

“I think it’s a very exciting time — (a) great time — for innovations in the aerospace industry.”