When Uber first announced that they were planning to expand their business and offer flying taxis, everyone was skeptical and doubted whether or not the company would actually be able to pull something like that off.
But yesterday, Uber started their three-day "Elevate" summit, presenting the public their new concept of aviation.
Uber's goal is to present the new innovation at the World Expo in Dubai in 2020.
The first flying taxis of the project "Uber Elevate" will be ready to order in Dubai as well as Dallas-Fort Worth in Texas.
They are going to be electric aircrafts that can be summoned on-demand with a smartphone app, just like a reghular Uber cab.
Uber plans to make them light, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircrafts, which would have 0 emissions and would be very quiet even in cities. .
Taking the direct airway somewhere could save huge amounts of time, compared to car rides.
There would be no traffic, no traffic lights, no detours - you'd get to your destination a lot faster!
As an example, Uber stated that a flying taxi could go from San Francisco to San Jose in only 15 minutes - a journey that takes thousands of people over 2 hours by car.
And in the long run, flying taxis will become even cheaper than regular Uber rides!
When the service first launches, Uber will charge about $1.32 per passenger mile, which is a little bit more expensive than an UberX today.
But in the future, Uber stated that the cost of taking a flying taxi instead of a regular one would be come even cheaper for the customer.
Uber has stated that the aircrafts will be piloted at first, but the aim will be to have them flying autonomously later on.
So how will Uber manage to create something to innovative and risky?
As many probably would've guessed, their plan is to partner with different companies which are already experts in air travel and take advantage of their knowledge and experience.
These are the 5 aircraft manufacturers that Uber has confirmed they'll be working with:
- Pipistrel Aircraft, manufacturing hybrid- and electric planes
- Bell Helicopter, specialized in manufacturing VTOL aircrafts
- Aurora Flight Sciences, born out of MIT's Daedalus Project, working on autonomous helicopters
- Embraer, Brazilian manufacturer of private jets
- Mooney International, aircraft manufacturer
Uber is also teaming up with ChargePoint, who will create a specific battery charger so that the aircrafts can be topped up quickly.
2020 is only 3 years away, so Uber has a major challenge to face and many technical problems to solve.
What do you think - will a service like this become a reality in such a short amount of time?!
Images: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
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