Following the #DeleteUber backlash, Uber is moving forward on their flying car project.
Bloomberg Technology reports Uber hiredNASA engineer Mark Moore to develop the company’s flying-car program. Moore will become Uber’s director of engineering for aviation. He will become responsible and will lead Uber into the future of flying cars by helping develop the Uber Elevate Initiative; a program that uses flying taxis to move people between “vertiports” located 50 to 100 miles away from each other.
Moore has a long history with NASA. He worked at the space agency for the last 30 years, and his research into vertical take off helped inspire Google co-founder Larry Page to launch two different flying-car companies.
When Uber announced their flying car program they also revealed their biggest issue, where can you park a flying car? Ultimately, the ride-sharing company announced their biggest obstacle is there are not enough places within cities for flying cars to land – “if VTOLs are going to achieve close to their full potential, infrastructure will need to be added.”
However, Uber did explain that flying cars could help infrastructure costs the government has to pay every year to maintain bridges and roads.
Soon we will all soon have flying cars. Moore told Bloomberg Technology he expects to see several different flying cars in the next three years and will provide job opportunities for human pilots.
Airbus Flying Car Program
Uber is not the only company working on flying cars. Earlier this year, Airbus announced their plan to launch a prototype of their flying car model. Under the code name “Project Vahana,” Airbus launched a new division last year called their Urban Air Mobility program. The mission of the new department is to explore new ways to transport people. Airbus plans on creating flying taxis called CityAirBus. CityAirBus will allow for people to ask for a flying taxi with just their smartphone.
