Conference highlights Uber’s lofty bet on ‘flying cars’
Handful of firms have prototypes, but safety and costs remain key issues
Sure, Uber’s cars are learning to drive themselves. But the next step is making them fly.
Uber kicks off a three-day conference on “flying cars” Tuesday in Dallas, an elaborate show of force as the ride-hailing company seeks to nail down a spot at the forefront of the fastgrowing industry. The event is expected to draw hundreds of vehicle manufacturers, regulators, investors and technology suppliers interested in VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) aircraft — otherwise known as flying cars.
“This is certainly something that people who invest in futuristic technologies totally believe in. It makes complete sense,” said Lux Capital partner Bilal Zuberi, who is scheduled to speak at the conference Tuesday evening.
Some industry experts predict the small, personal aircraft, which can take off and land like a helicopter, will slice commute times and ease traffic congestion by opening new transit lanes in the sky. A handful of companies have had success flying prototype vehicles, but there’s still a ways to go before the technology becomes safe, cheap and practical enough for widespread use.
Uber doesn’t plan to build these flying cars itself, but is expected to pair its ride-hailing network and technology with vehicle manufacturers — possibly allowing passengers to summon flying cars with the Uber
app. The ride-hailing startup wouldn’t say what it plans to reveal during this week’s Elevate Summit, but it has lined up a wide range of speakers including Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, NASA researchers and engineers, and executives from on-demand helicopter service BLADE, aerospace manufacturer Bell Helicopter, and electric vehicle charging-station company ChargePoint.
Uber isn’t the only one exploring this technology. Google founder Larry Page is backing flying car projects, Airbus last month said it’s working on a vehicle, and smaller companies in the U.S. and abroad are getting ready to take their flying cars to market.
Slovakia-based AeroMobil on Thursday unveiled its latest model flying car at an auto show in Monaco and started accepting preorders. The company plans to deliver the car to customers starting in 2020, with the hefty price tag of about $1 million.
German-based Lilium Jet on Thursday said it had successfully test-flown the world’s first electric VTOL jet — a sleek, podlike two-seater vehicle. The company is developing a five-seater jet to be used by ride-hailing services.
Massachusetts-based company Terrafugia plans to start shipping a flying car in two years. The company made its first public test flight of its Transition vehicle at the Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual AirVenture convention in Wisconsin in 2013. The debut of the two-seater vehicle, which has foldable wings and can fly and also drive on the road like a typical car, was a success, said EAA spokesman Dick Knapinski, who was there.
Interest in the space has taken off since that test flight, he said, but he and other experts say it’s still early days.
“I don’t know if it’s even to the point where you could really call it an industry,” Knapinski said. “It’s more or less innovators working independently on a number of products.”
Regulation remains a major hurdle, as officials have yet to draft rules that explicitly cover flying cars. Questions abound — including what kind of license pilots of these vehicles will need, and where they can take off and land. Rules likely will have to come from both the Federal Aviation Administration and state Departments of Motor Vehicles, Knapinski said.
For now, the certification a VTOL company needs varies on a case-bycase basis, FAA spokesman Ian Gregor wrote in an email.
“We are taking a flexible, open-minded and riskbased approach to integrating new technologies into the world’s busiest, most complex – and safest – aviation system,” he wrote in a statement.
It could get even more complicated as companies add self-driving technology to their flying cars. Gregor said the FAA has discussed autonomous aircraft with several manufacturers.
“Several areas still need further research and development,” he wrote, “particularly the operational aspects of making sure the automation that will ‘fly’ the autonomous aircraft is safe, and how the automation will interact with the air traffic control system.”