Uber shows off concept designs as it pushes ahead with flying taxi plans
The ride-sharing service is planning flying pick-ups by 2023.
Uber has shown off new concept designs for the flying taxis it hopes to one day bring to the skies above cities.
At the company’s second annual Elevate Summit, the ride-hailing service broadly discussed its plans to move into aviation in the form of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) vehicles as part of a network it calls uberAIR.
The aim is to offer a solution to modern day congestion in urban areas, and Uber hopes to start demonstrations of the technology in 2020 before commercial trips begin in 2023.
At the summit in Los Angeles – one of the cities where Uber plans to first introduce its network – the ride-hailing firm showed off its latest concept designs for the VTOL aircraft it hopes to use.
Uber itself will not manufacture the vehicles, working instead with aviation firms to produce the vehicles needed.
Some of those firms appeared alongside Uber at the event with their own concept designs for what the flying taxis could look like.
They included Pipistrel, the manufacturers of the first electric plane to be approved by US regulators, who unveiled a new concept model – a futuristic take on Uber’s model.
