about building real, honest-to-god flying taxis
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When Uber first announced its crazy-sounding plan to explore “on-demand urban aviation” — essentially a network of flying taxis that could be hailed via a smartphone app and flown from rooftop to rooftop — the company made it clear that it never intended to go it alone.
Today, as it kicked off its three-day Elevate conference in Dallas, Texas, the ride-hail company announced a slew of partnerships with cities, aviation manufacturers, real estate, and electric charging companies, in its effort to bring its dream of flying cars a little closer to reality.
TEAMING UP WITH DALLAS-FORTH WORTH AND DUBAI
Uber said it will be teaming up with the governments of Dallas-Fort Worth and Dubai to bring its flying taxis to those cities first. It is also joining forces with real estate firm Hilwood Properties in Dallas-Fort Worth to identify sites where it will build takeoff and landing pads, which Uber calls “vertiports.” It has signed contracts (or is in the midst of contract negotiations) with five aircraft manufacturers to work on the design and production of lightweight, electrically powered vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft. And it launched a partnership with an electric charging company called ChargePoint, to develop charging stations for Uber’s flying taxis.
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My Opinion
It's about TIME..but it's too little too late. The time frame for it's adoption and use is more narrow than they think.
To explain. Do you remember BlockBuster Video'?. How'd that work out? It worked out FINE..for a short time. Then advancing technology, the internet with video streaming, NetFlix and HULU...wiped them OUT.
The same thing with flying cars. We've been promised them since FOREVER. The problem is that when they arrive, if they get here SOON, they will not be need for very long. Virtual Reality, Teleprescense and TeleOperations will eliminate the need for flying taxis...for the most part.