Uber hasn’t really had a great start to the year, but it’s most recent announcement may help turn things around. Uber has announced plans to introduce its flying taxi service, called Uber Elevate by 2020 in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, and Dubai.
We’ve dreamt for years about the possibility of flying cars to help us avoid the gridlock in our daily commutes and now it may be becoming a reality. This week Uber’s Chief Product Officer, Jeff Holden, announced at the Uber Elevate Summit in Dallas that the company expects to launch the flying taxis in three years. Even better, Uber’s flying taxis will be zero-emission electric aircrafts that will be able to take off and land vertically.
The compact flying taxis could cut commute times significantly, with early estimates showing that the travel time between San Francisco’s Marina to downtown San Jose would only take a mere 15 minutes, compared to the more than 2 hour time that it would take if you took public transportation. Before you worry about costs, Uber says that the flying taxis won’t cost more than UberX with a $1.32 cost average cost per mile.
Uber is going to partner with several companies to get its flying taxis off the ground. For example, Chargepoint will be the exclusive electric charger for the taxis and Hillwood Properties will build four vertiports in Dallas. Aurora, Bell Helicopter, Pipistrel, Mooney, and Embraer have been tasked with building the flying taxis.
The only downside is that Uber Elevate will only be able to take you to set locations, but if you factor in the extra time you’ll save on your daily commute, it shouldn’t matter.
Source: Uber via Reuters
