Uber Promises Flying Taxis by 2020
On the heels of the successful test of a prototype electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft in April by Munich-based Lilium Aviation, ride-hailing firm Uber has pledged to bring the technology to the wider public by decade’s end. Uber plans to facilitate on-demand urban aviation by hiring flying taxis from the likes of Lilium and helping to manage the network of ‘vertiports’ crucial to their operation. These vertiports would be housed atop repurposed car parks, helipads and other locations. “We just want to usher it in as fast as possible because we all want to live in this world,” said Jeff Holden, Uber Technologies chief product officer, in Dallas in April. With Uber promising to create a network of VTOLs in Dallas and Dubai by 2020, the impossible dream of flying cars seems one step closer to becoming a reality. Greg Barton