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Uber CEO Sees Commercialization of Flying Taxis in 5-10 Years (reuters.com)
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said on Tuesday he can see commercialization of the Uber Air flying taxi service happening within five to 10 years. From a report: The U.S. ride-hailing app maker has said it expects flying vehicles to eventually become an affordable method of mass transportation.
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Lets be real here. It will take that long, just to get past the regulations after the technology is proven. Self Driving cars are used in a very limited conditions, A flying taxi, will be much further along...
Unless they are just doing something with Single engine airplanes. Say someone with a Cessna license. Can make some cash giving personal flights. Then yea 5-10 years to get the legal mumbo jumbo work done.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Why?
If I could actually read the article I could confirm that I believe they are talking about private planes hiring themselves out via Uber and NOT "flying cars".
It's not a bad idea - I've got several friends with planes and they'd love to fly more but can't afford the fuel/maintenance costs to fly more often and this would be one way of getting around that. (maybe, if Uber doesn't shortchange them like its other drivers)
Plus there's the convenience of avoiding the TSA lines and crowds in general.
I wonder if Lyft planes would have to put a moustache on their plane...
https://www.reuters.com/articl...
It's illegal to take money for flights in private planes. Even having someone pay for fuel is a grey area, careful how you phrase the transaction.
The extra licensing/maintenance to operate as a charter is a big expense. Not going to happen.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
The summary is the article, nigh verbatim:
https://www.reuters.com/articl...
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
No.
It's 5-10 years out because it's _bullshit_. Uber lives on hype.
Taxis are hailed on the street. Uber is a car charter service. There are no such hairs to split in aviation. Take money for a flight, carry a commercial pilot's license and charter company license.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
It will take that long, just to get past the regulations after the technology is proven.
That doesn't mean it won't happen. It just means it won't happen in America. Just like in biotech, America's overregulation means technological leadership will occur elsewhere.
Flying taxis have been a thing for years. It's done with airplanes. These days there's even websites dedicated to it. Just like uber didn't invent the regular taxi, they didn't invent the flying one either. Apparently Dara has never heard of google. Here's one of many: http://www.linearair.com/
I think you are confusing license/certification types with aircraft types. Taking money or other payment for providing the service of flying requires a commercial pilot or airline transport pilot license. There are multiple types of licenses from sport pilot, recreational pilot, private pilot, to airline transport pilot and a couple obscure ones in-between.
It is possible to accept payment for transporting a passenger in a Cessna single-prop aircraft. However, the licensing and certification requirements (commercial pilot) would be excessive for the type of person who would own and fly such an airplane. That is why it is rarely ever done in practice.
source source.
24 beers in a case, 24 hours in a day. Coincidence? I think not!
This CEO is looking dumber and dumber. First he thinks he can just turn on the profit spigot by twisting a few knobs (I don't think he understands his market or his business) and now he thinks we'll have viable flying cars/taxis in the next 5-10 years when there is practically no working prototype in existence. Right now, in today's world of automobiles, the hottest stuff is electric and self-driving. Electric is getting pretty close to polished, but still has a lot of room for improvement. Autonomous cars haven't even fully exited the birthing canal and are not even in diapers yet. In 5-10 years we still won't see more than 20% of cars on the road being fully electric. We won't be seeing even 5% that are fully autonomous. Maybe, just maybe, in 5-10 years, 5-10 people (out of billions) will have seen a real flying taxi in person.
This guy is totally and completely out of touch with reality. We are a minimum of 50-100 years from seeing flying taxis in any regular fashion and even then, unless some true "hover" /anti-gravity technology comes to be we won't see it on any regular basis ever. 1000s of cars blowing air around, making a ton of noise to fly isn't going to be a solution anyone wants.
This CEO sees Uber as bankrupt in 5-10 years.
I don't respond to AC's.
This is just attention-whoring from Uber.
It will take that long, just to get past the regulations after the technology is proven.
That doesn't mean it won't happen. It just means it won't happen in America. Just like in biotech, America's overregulation means technological leadership will occur elsewhere.
Pray tell, which abhorrent regulations do you think should be swept aside to allow for the speedy development of flying taxis. I mean what could possibly go wrong with a massive increase in air traffic, at low altitudes above major population centers.
Translation:
Uber CEO sees opportunity for sound bytes in the press.
Uber. Uber. Uberuberuber. Uber. Let's talk about Uber. UBER. Cows say UBER. UBER says the cows. UUUUUUUBER. Uber luddites.
As far as flying taxis, yes there are proofs of concept on this, one person super lightweight vehicles, that can fly short distances. But the energy it takes to power these is quite high. The noise is ridiculous, the areas available for take-off/landing are unavailable in the cities where this is supposed to make sense. And I assume the tech will need to be much better in the 3D environment than the 2D one. It will not ever be mass transportation.
Also, it only takes one of these https://www.youtube.com/watch?... to set the whole process back decades.