Photo: Uber
A while back, Uber announced that it’s airborne taxi service, known as Elevate or UberAir, will be deployed for commercial use at first in the cities of Dallas and Los Angeles. Last week, the company revealed that the third location will be an international one.
This third location is to be chosen from cities in one of five countries that made it on the short list: Australia, Brazil, France, India, and Japan.
"These five countries could have the transportation model completely transformed with the use of electric vehicles based on take-off and vertical landing," said in a statement Eric Allison, head of UberAir.
"We see tremendous potential in the use of drones, creating a truly multimodal transport future."
To be eligible to become part of the future of transportation as envisioned by Uber, the cities in the selected countries will have to comply with several requirements.
The actual development of the flying machines will take place in Paris. There, the company will be spending 20 million euros on a new research center ($23.5 million) where it will be working on the algorithms that would make the taxis fly, as well as on the air traffic control.
The concept of the flying taxi was presented by Uber in the first week of May. It is equipped with high-mounted wings and a series of small helicopter-like rotors.
"These five countries could have the transportation model completely transformed with the use of electric vehicles based on take-off and vertical landing," said in a statement Eric Allison, head of UberAir.
"We see tremendous potential in the use of drones, creating a truly multimodal transport future."
To be eligible to become part of the future of transportation as envisioned by Uber, the cities in the selected countries will have to comply with several requirements.
First, they must have a greater metropolitan area population in excess of 2 million people and a density of over 2,000 people per square mile. The presence of a nearby large airport is considered a plus. (the list of conditions can be consulted in the document attached below).
The actual tests of Uber’s air transportation solution will begin above the streets of Dallas Fort Worth, in partnership with NASA. There, the company wants to see how such a means of going about will impact crowded areas.
The actual development of the flying machines will take place in Paris. There, the company will be spending 20 million euros on a new research center ($23.5 million) where it will be working on the algorithms that would make the taxis fly, as well as on the air traffic control.
The concept of the flying taxi was presented by Uber in the first week of May. It is equipped with high-mounted wings and a series of small helicopter-like rotors.
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