Uber Elevate partners with NASA to offer Aerial Transportation
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Uber is expanding its business by offering air mobility services by as early as 2023. As a part of its Uber Elevate Programme, a set of companies are coming together to help reduce the congestion in the world’s top populated cities by providing affordable aerial transportation services.
About Uber Elevate Programme
Uber Elevate was launched in October 2016. Since then, it has partnered with aircraft manufacturers, real estate and technology companies and even government agencies like NASA to create aircraft, infrastructure and SOPs for urban air mobility.
The plan is to fly the aircraft on short distances of around 100 km, at speeds between 150–200 mph and cruising altitude of 1000–2000 feet on a single charge.
Uber has already announced that test flights of Uber Air will take place in Dallas-Fort Worth/Frisco Texas and Los Angeles in 2020 with commercial flights starting 2023. Last week, it announced that one city from among India, Japan, Australia, France and Brazil will be picked as the third, international, destination for Uber Air flights.
Cutting down urban congestion cost
Air mobility is node-based and each node can be connected to any of the other nodes. Uber cites the examples of India, where CST to Mumbai airport or a Gurgaon to Connaught Place commute would be reduced to just 10 minutes.
This will help users save at least two hours every day. Uber’s estimate is that urban congestion costs India alone $22 billion a year.
Also Read: Now you can ‘Rent a Boy Friend’ to cure your depression
What aircraft will Uber Air use?
Uber is relying on its current partner companies like Bell, Embraer, Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences, Pipistrel Aircraft and Karem to come with a prototype of an eVTOL aircraft by 2020. Currently, options are limited because helicopters require high maintenance and are noisy too.
An eVTOL aircraft will have a certain ammount of autonomous ability. It will be powered by a battery that will enable it to fly the distance in a single charge.
The aircraft will take off and land vertically.
Also Read: 5 Actual ways to earn online from any corner of the world
Will the pricing be accessible for regular commuters?
In a market like India, if Uber Air takes off in the next decade or so, the prices might still be prohibitive for the masses. But Allison says Even if there’s a smaller percentage of people that are able to afford at a certain price point, it still can be a very large absolute number (in India). Uber’s projections show that with enough scale Uber Air could gradually cost less than car ownership.
Let’s connect on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Subscribe to never miss a post!
Originally published at garimashares.com on September 3, 2018.
