Uber and NASA have partnered so as to work on flying cars which they aim to launch in Los Angeles in 2020. This means LA will join Dallas-Fort Worth and Dubai as cities to be working with Uber on the programme.
The announcement with NASA was made in a speech delivered by Jeff Holden, Uber’s head of product at the Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal.
According to Holden, they have signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA, which will see Uber work together with the federal agency and its other partners to make flying vehicles at a low altitude safe and viable.
Holden further added “Technology will allow LA residents to literally fly over the city’s historically bad traffic, giving them time back to use in far more productive ways. At scale, we expect UberAir will perform tens of thousands of flights each day across the city.”
In a special-effects-laden video screened for conference attendees, called “Closer Than You Think,” a woman is seen heading to an Uber Skyport on the roof of a tall building.
She checks in with her app for an UberAir flight and joins three other passengers in a piloted electric plane that looks like a small Cessna with the exception of rotating wing-mounted propellors that swivel, enabling the craft to take off vertically like a helicopter.
Interestingly and perhaps ironically, Uber’s plan is in direct competition with that of Elon Musk who is also building road network under Los Angeles to tackle the traffic problems in the city.
