Tech
Uber Teams Up With U.S. Army to Create Flying Taxis
Uber takes to the skies.
At the company’s annual Elevate summit on Tuesday, Uber announced it’s plan to operate electric flying taxis in the next five years.
To reach their goal, Uber is teaming up with the U.S. Army and NASA.
“UberAir wants to fly its vehicles up to 2,000 feet at 150 mph for short-haul flights, going as far as 60 miles on a battery charge. The service plans to fly demos of its four-passenger seat planes in Los Angeles and the Dallas area by 2020, ready for commercial use by 2023,” according to Mashable.
Image: Uber
Although they will be piloted at first, Uber’s goal is for these aircrafts to be unmanned.
The main focus right now, however, is on researching quieter propeller technology, “a concept for having two rotor systems placed on top of each other and rotating in the same direction,” the U.S. Army said in a statement.
The research done in the partnership could one day help supply the Army with more efficient military aircrafts that could potentially be autonomous.
Uber has also made a new agreement with NASA to share information regarding their idea for an “urban aviation rideshare network,” in which NASA will use this data to study the effects of these small commercial aircrafts.
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