Uber is Getting Serious About Building Real, Honest-To-God Flying Taxis (theverge.com)

An anonymous reader shares an article: When Uber first announced its crazy-sounding plan to explore "on-demand urban aviation" -- essentially a network of flying taxis that could be hailed via a smartphone app and flown from rooftop to rooftop -- the company made it clear that it never intended to go it alone. Today, as it kicked off its three-day Elevate conference in Dallas, Texas, the ride-hail company announced a slew of partnerships with cities, aviation manufacturers, real estate, and electric charging companies, in its effort to bring its dream of flying cars a little closer to reality. Uber said it will be teaming up with the governments of Dallas-Fort Worth and Dubai to bring its flying taxis to those cities first. It is also joining forces with real estate firm Hilwood Properties in Dallas-Fort Worth to identify sites where it will build takeoff and landing pads, which Uber calls "vertiports." It has signed contracts (or is in the midst of contract negotiations) with five aircraft manufacturers to work on the design and production of lightweight, electrically powered vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft. And it launched a partnership with an electric charging company called ChargePoint, to develop charging stations for Uber's flying taxis.

Comments

This is horrible

[rsilvergun]

there's no way this can be done cheaply (simple physics tells you that); meaning it'll be the domain of the very wealthy. If this works It'll allow the rich to let the public transit system deteriorate completely while literally being held aloft over it all. If you think the roads & public transportation are bad now wait until the ruling class have no use for them personally.

Re:This is horrible

[netsavior]

In Dallas, Texas even most people living at the poverty line completely ignore public transportation. This would have zero effect on that, don't worry.

Re:This is horrible

[Anonymous Coward]

"Electric flying taxis!"
"You mean, like helicopters?"
"No, totally not helicopters. Flying taxis!"

...

"So, the designs are in, and the only practical solution was basically a helicopter."
"And how is that new?"
"It's an electric helicopter. For the masses!"

...

"The electric part didn't quite pan out. But we can still make helicopter taxis."
"Don't those already exist?"
"Ours will be better! And have an app!"

...

"It turns out that designing and building a new model of helicopter isn't all that easy."
"So we're finished?"
"No, we'll just buy existing helicopters. Why reinvent the wheel? Plus, App!"

...

"Owning and operating helicopters sure is a pain. That won't work."
"No more flying taxis then?"
"It's not a problem, we'll just charter them. The key is connecting the service to the users. Appy app app!"

...

"Pilots aren't falling all over themselves to offer rides for half the going rate."
"Shocking."
"We'll just have to subsidize the fares until the market emerges."

...

"Nobody is using our app except for a bunch of helicopter charter services booking their existing clients at our discounted rates."
"..."
"Clearly we need to invent a new electric flying taxi!"

Re:This is horrible

[clovis]

It's not about the rich havening an advantage over the poor; it's wrong to let anyone have speed advantage in daily commuting.

There's no way to integrate this with Complete Streets initiatives.
https://smartgrowthamerica.org...

We'll have flying taxis zipping about at high rates of speed above everyone, and I can't see any way to slow them down to make everything fair by putting bicyclists and pedestrians in the sky; They'll just fall to back to ground.
I'm totally against flying taxis unless we make the airways safe and fair for bicyclists and pedestrians.

On second thought, we can put bicycles and pedestrians in balloons tethered to the ground like barrage balloons. That would slow down the flying taxis and make it fair to everyone.

Re:This is horrible

[mrclevesque]

"Otherwise, what's the point?"

Getting people to invest more money in Uber?

This field

[Oswald McWeany]

The field of flying cars and electronic drones usually excites me. Most of the ideas are pie-in-the-sky, but by and large I find the field fascinating... ... until they talk about Uber creating flying taxis, then the fascination turns to horror.

Re:This field

[FatdogHaiku]

... until they talk about Uber creating flying taxis, then the fascination turns to horror.

New Frontiers in Surge Pricing!
We can't help but notice from your profile data that you would most likely enjoy not plummeting to your death... Accordingly, a considerable fee has been added to the cost of this trip to cover the surge of electricity required to keep you airborne... Have a nice day!

It's a trick!

[Cyberpunk Reality]

They're going to try to get Lyft drivers, investigative reporters, and law enforcement to jump off tall buildings.

Something I never see discussed..

[Baron_Yam]

You can't safely operate flying vehicles in close proximity to tall buildings... so we're going to need a lot more rooftop landing pads and better roof access to them.

The reason you can't fly deep within a heavily urban landscape is that buildings make very strong vortices as wind is forced around corners. Yeah, it looks cool in movies when a helicopter comes down Main, but it's not something you want to do if there's anything more than a light breeze. And then there's all the extra obstacles as you get closer to the ground - wires, lamp posts, signs, etc.

Re:Something I never see discussed..

[ArhcAngel]

Actually Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and Galveston are all suburbs of Houston.

Making them fly is easy.

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

Making them fly is easy - just have every other driver miss that turn on the bluff. Letting them land where they want with all passengers intact is another matter.

everybody's missed it

[Anonymous Coward]

However, I haven't missed it, so I've decided to double my investments in popcorn.

I'm looking forward to seeing Uber trying to weasel out of FAA rules.

"It's not an airplane! We don't have to follow the FAA's rules! It's a car, that flies! That's totally different!"

Fly United...

[__aaclcg7560]

Do you really want to take a ride in flying taxi that's run by a CEO who routinely breaks laws and regulations to get what he want?

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/23/technology/travis-kalanick-pushes-uber-and-himself-to-the-precipice.html?

Illegal Uber

[holophrastic]

So, Uber, the most illegal company in the news this year, full of malware issues, HR issues, surveillance issues, gaming drivers, gaming passengers, stealing money from both, and are they even profitable yet?

Yeah, let's partner with them. Great idea.

Translation

[GrumpySteen]

Uber Is Getting Serious About Using The Dream Of Real, Honest-To-God Flying Taxis To Suck Money Out Of Investors

Not necessarily

[mykepredko]

When the revolution comes, we'll know where all the very wealthy will be.

gullible much?

[Anonymous Coward]

This is nothing more than a fluff piece to make Uber look cool and distract people from their horrible practices