Uber is pushing ahead with its flying taxi ambitions at its Elevate conference in LA this week, according to the following report by newatlas.com:
Among the news to trickle out of the event is a new agreement with NASA, along with some flashy new concepts previewing what the aircraft could look like.
Uber first shared its plans for a flying taxi service back in 2016, and it is not alone in harboring such ambitions. Boeing, Airbus along with a host of aviation startups are also vying for territory in this area, and despite the fact that everything rides on a yet-to-be proven technology, a lot of money and resources are going into such efforts.
For its part, Uber imagines using vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft to transport people around urban centers. These aircraft would be electric to keep noise and carbon emissions to a minimum, have either two or four seats and take passengers on trips of up to 60 miles (96 km) between dedicated launch pads called Skyports. These would be piloted to begin with, and then fly on their own once autonomous technologies mature.
Were such a service to get off the ground, it would mean a lot more air traffic for urban centers, and that’s where NASA comes in. The agency has been working on traffic management systems for unmanned aircraft like drones for a few years now, and last year signed a deal with Uber to do the same for flying taxis.
This could mean that you have a low-speed channel of airspace reserved for hobbyists flying video drones, for example, as well as a high-speed channel above that for delivery drones and then another for flying taxis. Uber has previously said that its flying taxis will fly below 10,000 ft (3,000 m).
Check out the video below for a look at how Uber Elevate would work…
Read full article at newatlas.com
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