Uber to launch commercial trips of uberAIR by 2023
It was a surprise when Uber announced that it has plans to launch flight demonstrations of uberAIR in Dallas-Fort Worth/Frisco Texas and Los Angeles. But now, with important partnerships with key manufacturers and technology companies, the cab aggregator is all set to make further inroads into the aviation sector.
Uber plans to launch the flight demonstrations in 2020 and commercial trips by the year 2023. Uber launched its Elevate programme in October 2016. Since then, it has entered into partnerships with experienced aircraft manufacturers who are developing electric VTOL vehicles including: Embraer, Bell, Aurora Flight Sciences (now a subsidiary of Boeing), Pipistrel Aircraft and Karem. Uber unveiled a series of new advancements and partnerships that are helping launch the world’s first urban aviation network at the second edition of annual Elevate Summit.
However, Uber stated that it will not venture directly in manufacturing the vehicles but will work with industry leaders to produce vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircrafts that will use the uberAIR network. “Today, Uber’s annual Elevate Summit attempted to showcase the aviation industry’s advancements on many fronts, needed to make uberAIR a reality by 2023. This includes multiple vehicle designs, new battery technology, manufacturing improvements and the ‘operating system’ that will enable safe, precise, environmentally friendly operations at scale and allow cities to radically improve their transit networks. This gargantuan effort to ‘push a button and get a flight’ can only be accomplished through close partnership across the public and private sectors,” said Jeff Holden, Chief Product Officer of Uber.