Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on flying taxis
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi on flying taxis, the future
and taking over a company in crisis
May 8, 2018, 7:44 AM
Uber is releasing new information about Uber Air, an ambitious
plan to launch a fleet of autonomous flying taxis in two years. "CBS This
Morning" got the first look at the design models that will be on display
at Tuesday's Uber Elevate Summit in Los Angeles.
"We think cities are going to go vertical in terms of
transportation and we want to make that a reality," Dara Khosrowshahi told
CBS News' Bianna Golodryga.
The Uber CEO said their new model of an air taxi shows
the company's vision for the future of transportation. It's a world where
passengers request an Uber Air on their phone, then head to rooftop sky ports
where the aircraft take off.
"We want to create the network around those vehicles
so that regular people can take these taxis in the air for longer distances
when they want to avoid traffic at affordable prices," Khosrowshahi said.
Uber's chief product officer, Jeff Holden, said the
program is meant to be "community friendly." He says they're still in
the design phase and explained the technology works similar to a helicopter,
with stacked rotors to create lift. But unlike a helicopter, the aircraft will
have clusters of small propellers and run on electricity, making it quieter,
more efficient and more affordable.
Although piloted at first, the goal is for the flying
taxis to become autonomous. But questions remain about how they will guarantee
safety. Uber also said for the program to become profitable it will need to
move beyond a niche market.
"One of the key tenets of this technology is for us
to have four riders in each vehicle. So, essentially, the cost per ride goes
down," he said. "The combination of mass market and sharing, which is
really what Uber is all about, can bring this to the masses, can make it
affordable for normal people."
Khosrowshahi took over a company in crisis when he
replaced Travis Kalanick as CEO in August. The eight-year-old company is still
not profitable.
"Ambition is what has created this company from the
very beginning," Khosrowshahi said. "Part of what made this company
great is that we take big, bold bets. That's part of the norms and the culture
of this company and this is another big, bold bet that we think ultimately is
something that the cities of the future are going to need."
While Khosrowshahi is focused on the future, the company
is still navigating a troubled past including a March accident involving a
self-driving Uber with a safety driver behind the wheel that killed a
pedestrian. The CEO says the software that decides how the vehicle reacts to
objects on the road may have played a role in that crash, but the company is
waiting on the results of an NTSB investigation.
"What I'm doing is a top-to-bottom audit of our
procedures, training, software, hardware, what our practices are,"
Khosrowshahi said. "We're not shutting it down. We want to get back on the
road but we want to be safe when we get back on the road."
The company is also working to rehabilitate its image. A
bombshell blogpost last year detailing a corporate culture of sexual harassment
was followed by numerous lawsuits and an internal investigation that led to
Kalanick's resignation.
"If it's not changed right now, then I failed. I
will tell you that the company took upon itself to change. The change didn't
start with me," Khosrowshahi said. "What happened in the past was
deeply unpleasant and wrong but the company from a bottoms up standpoint
started changing and I think it continues apace."
He said it's "game over" if the company can't
provide a workplace where female employees feel safe. "We want everyone at
Uber to feel safe….And if we fail at that, we will fail at a company. But we
don't intend to."
Khosrowshahi said he's concentrating not just on
correcting the company's past missteps but on making the necessary strides to
ensure the company's future growth, including the launch of Uber Air.
"You've got to set aggressive goals in order to push
teams and people to make those goals," he said.
Uber plans to have Uber Air flight demonstrations as
early as 2020. The company has also partnered with NASA to develop technology
to control air traffic and prevent crashes. The first two Uber Air cities will
be Dallas and Los Angeles.
© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
Post a Comment