Flying taxis will be cheaper than driving a car, says Uber
Flying taxis will be cheaper than driving a car, says
Uber
By James Titcomb 25 APRIL 2017 • 6:31PM
Uber has claimed that ordering a flying taxi will one day
be cheaper than taking a journey in a car as it laid out an ambitious vision
for tests of aerial vehicles.
The ride-hailing company said it is planning to start
trials of its "UberAIR" service in 2020 in Dubai and Dallas. It plans
to let passengers order trips in flying cars in the same way that they can
order rides from the four wheeled land-based versions today.
"Urban aviation is a natural next step for Uber in
this pursuit, which is why we are working to make 'push a button, get a flight'
a reality," Uber's chief product
officer Jeff Holden said. He suggested that flying cars would be quicker, more
environmentally-friendly and above all cheaper than ordering or driving a car
in the future.
He claimed that when Uber first introduces the flight
service, a journey will be roughly the same cost as an Uber car trip today, but
said that eventually it will go so low that it will be even cheaper than the
cost of the fuel required to drive one's own car.
It envisions a network of autonomous electric air
vehicles that can take off and land vertically, silently ferrying passengers
across cities and on their commutes.
"We’re turning it into something we think will be a
daily phenomenon," Holden said. "People are wasting an insane amount
of time in their cars."
On Tuesday, at a press conference in Texas, Uber
announced partnerships with a number of aircraft manufacturers including
Embraer and Bell Helicopter to help develop vertical take-off and landing
(VTOL) aircraft.
Uber expects that its service will be most used by
commuters, demonstrating a commute from San Jose to San Francisco that would
take a few minutes, compared to over an hour by car.
A number of start-ups are already developing personal
aerial vehicles, some of which have demonstrated successful tests of the
technology.
Uber's optimistic vision of the future came as a welcome
distraction to the scandals embracing the company and its chief executive
Travis Kalanick in recent weeks.
On Monday, it emerged that Apple had threatened to remove
the Uber app from the iPhone's App Store after it was found to be tagging
iPhones in breach of Apple's rules.
Comments
Post a Comment