Daimler seems to have seen enough from e-volo's Volocopter to believe this 18-rotor autonomous flying machine is the real deal, with the company among a set of investors to pump more than US$29 million in total into the aviation startup.

Daimler has been as active as anyone when it comes to autonomous vehicle technologies. Its Mercedes E-Class vehicles were the first to receive approval for autonomous testing in Nevada, and its self-driving trucks have been racking up test miles since 2015. Its recent partnership with Bosch, meanwhile, is hoped to help get self-driving cars on the road by the start of the next decade.

And now its seems that the automobile manufacturer sees great potential in the future of sky-bound autonomous tech, too. Volocopter first emerged in 2013 as an all-electric two-passenger aircraft, designed to one day take folks from point A to point B without the need for a pilot, much like the Ehang taxi drone set to be trialled in Dubai this year.