NASA is working with Uber on its flying taxi project
NASA is working with Uber on its flying taxi project
Uber partnered with NASA on it its flying taxi project
called Uber Elevate
Uber will be working with NASA to figure out traffic management
for flying cars
Uber also said that it is aiming to trial the flying
taxis in Los Angeles, as well as Dubai and Dallas-Fort Worth in 2020
By Arjun Kharpal November 8, 2017 12 Hours Ago Updated 5 Hours Ago
CNBC.com
Uber signed a deal with NASA Wednesday to help develop
traffic systems for its flying car project which it hopes to start testing in
2020.
The ride-hailing service published details of its
"on demand aviation" ambitions last year which it has called Uber
Elevate.
It is now stepping up its efforts to make the project a
reality. Uber said at the Web Summit tech conference in Lisbon that it signed a
Space Act Agreement with NASA for the development of "unmanned traffic
management." This is NASA's push to figure out how unmanned aerial systems
(UAS), such as drones that fly at a low altitude, can operate safely.
Uber wants to make vertical take-off and landing
vehicles. That will allow their flying cars to take off and land vertically.
They will fly at a low altitude.
This is the start-up's first partnership with a U.S.
federal government agency. NASA is also working with other companies to develop
traffic management for these low altitude vehicles.
"UberAir will be performing far more flights on a
daily basis than it has ever been done before. Doing this safely and
efficiently is going to require a foundational change in airspace management
technologies," Jeff Holden, chief product officer at Uber, said in a
statement on Wednesday.
"Combining Uber's software engineering expertise
with NASA's decades of airspace experience to tackle this is a crucial step
forward for Uber Elevate."
The NASA deal is the latest in a series of partnerships
Uber has struck to get UberAir — which is what the new service is called — off
the ground.
Earlier this year it said it was working with authorities
in Dallas-Fort Worth and Dubai to bring its flying taxis to those cities. It
also signed partnerships with aircraft manufacturers and real estate companies
to figure out where the take off and landing sites for the flying cars could
be.
Uber said Wednesday that it also plans to trial the
project in Los Angeles in 2020 along with the already announced cities. The
company expects the price of a trip to be competitive with the same journey if
done using UberX. It is aiming to get the flying taxi service up before the
2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
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