Uber, NASA to study using flying cars in cities
Uber Technologies announced on Tuesday a partnership to study urban manned aircraft in conjunction with NASA, following a partnership last year that focused on unmanned drones.
As part of the deal, Uber will share its data with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to move the world closer to developing air-traffic management systems for a world with flying cars.
Uber made the announcement as it kicked off its second Uber Elevate conference in Los Angeles. Although Uber isn’t building these verticaltakeoff and landing vehicles, the company is striking partnerships with manufacturers, battery companies and others that, together with Uber’s ride-hailing network, could make it possible to summon a flying taxi via the Uber app.
“Urban air mobility could revolutionize the way people and cargo move in our cities and fundamentally change our lifestyle much like smartphones have,” Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, said in a statement.
Uber has set a goal of testing these electric flying vehicles by 2020 and launching one commercially in 2023. The company has produced its own designs, talked to local governments and is trying to lay the foundation for a future in which people fly across cities.
Uber said in a statement: “Using data from Uber, NASA will use its research facility at the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) airport to simulate a small passenger-carrying aircraft as it flies through DFW airspace during peak scheduled air traffic, and analyze if these operations would trigger traffic collision advisories.”
Flying cars have attracted the attention of other technology companies. Larry Page, CEO of Google parent Alphabet Inc., has made investments in companies working on flying cars, including startups Kitty Hawk and Zee.Aero.
Flying cars give Uber an opportunity to plan optimistically for the future while its other foray into futuristic vehicles faces significant challenges. Its autonomouscar program has stalled since a fatal collision with a pedestrian in March.