The idea of flying taxis—autonomous or manned—isn’t going away any time soon and it comes as no surprise that on-demand taxi company Uber wants a piece of the potential action. Uber announced its intent to develop UberAir – an aerial, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) version of its current service – earlier this year at its Elevate Summit in Dallas, Texas.
In addition to aviation manufacturers—including, according to announcements made at Elevate, Mooney, Bell and Embraer—Uber has now partnered with NASA to work on the idea. The goal of this particular partnership is to develop safe and effective air traffic management systems—obviously essential for the unexplored territory that is on-demand, near-instantaneous air transport. It has been reported that NASA is aiming to bring air traffic integration recommendations to the FAA in 2019, with demo flights of UberAir slated for 2020 in Los Angeles.
At the moment, Uber is anticipating that UberAir costs will be similar to that of the current UberX option.
Learn more at Uber Elevate.
