Uber hopes to have flying cars operating as soon as 2020.
The company yesterday revealed its flying car prototype, capable of vertical takeoff and landing and able to fly between 1 000 and 2 000 feet above the ground.
Although the vehicles are loosely based on helicopter design, they would actually be about half as loud as a truck and, because they use four rotors instead of one, they would be safer as well.
It also unveiled its envisioned skyports, which would be able to handle 200 takeoffs and landings per hour.
Initially, the flying cars would be piloted, but the eventual goal is to make them autonomous, and to incorporate them into the ride-sharing ecosystem.
Uber released a white paper on its thinking behind the flying car strategy, paying particular attention to the amount of time people waste in commuting.
“On-demand aviation has the potential to radically improve urban mobility, giving people back time lost in their daily commutes,” according to the white paper.
It proposes a network of small, electric vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, supported by “vertiports” repurposed from the tops of parking garages, existing helipads, and even unused land surrounding highway interchanges.
“Recently, technology advances have made it practical to build this new class of VTOL aircraft,” it states.
Uber anticipates that daily long-distance commutes in heavily congested urban and suburban areas and routes under-served by existing infrastructure will be the first use cases for urban VTOLs.
“We also believe that in the long-term, VTOLs will be an affordable form of daily transportation for the masses, even less expensive than owning a car,” it adds.