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https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/08/ub...-for-2020/amp/
Uber adds LA to flying taxi test cities, demo flights slated for 2020 BY NATASHA LOMAS November 8, 2017 Uber has inked a partnership with NASA over its flying taxi plans and says now it’s aiming to get demo flights up and running in Los Angeles by 2020. Specifically it’s signed an agreement to work with the federal government agency over the development of unmanned traffic management at a low altitude. Which makes a change from being investigated by federal agencies. https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/15/ub...andling-probe/ As CNBC notes, NASA is already working with several other companies to develop traffic management for low altitude vehicles, including for drones. “UberAir will be performing far more flights on a daily basis than it has ever been done before. Doing this safely and efficiently is going to require a foundational change in airspace management technologies,” said Uber chief product officer Jeff Holden in a statement. “Combining Uber’s software engineering expertise with NASA’s decades of airspace experience to tackle this is a crucial step forward for Uber Elevate.” USA Today also reports Uber has inked an agreement with Los Angeles’ Sandstone Properties to develop roof-top take-off and landing terminals in the city. Uber said today it’s intending LA to be its second US trial location, having previously named Dallas as a test city. It says its goal is to have a flying taxi service up and running in Los Angeles before the 2028 Olympics — and has also released a concept video showing an Uber user getting an elevator to a ‘skyport’ and then taking a flying taxi across the city. The company is not intending to build any flying taxis itself but has previously announced partnerships with five aircraft manufacturers to lead the development and manufacturing of the necessary VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft. Back in February Uber also hired NASA engineer Mark Moore, who worked at the federal agency as an advanced aircraft engineer to work on its flying taxi project. But obviously lots of barriers remain to actually launching a commercial service — not least safety considerations of operating such a service over densely populated urban centers. The on-demand ride-hailing giant revealed its ambition to get build on-demand aviation last year, outing a fancy website and dubbing the project Uber Elevate — albeit that phasing does now kinda sound like a last-ditch rebranding operation, given how many knocks the company’s reputation has taken in recent times. And essentially that’s the primary function of Uber’s PR noise around this now: Strategic proximity to a rather shinier brand (NASA!), plus the uplifting prospect of rising above it all vs having your band name dragged through the mud as Uber currently is thanks to a series of legacy operational scandals. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/08/uber...ing-taxis.html NASA is working with Uber on its flying taxi project VIDEO: https://www.cnbc.com/5108adff-000d-4...0-4b6cf20de4b6 Uber partnered with NASA on it its flying taxi project called Uber Elevate Uber will be working with NASA to figure out traffic management for flying cars Uber also said that it is aiming to trial the flying taxis in Los Angeles, as well as Dubai and Dallas-Fort Worth in 2020 Arjun Kharpal Published 5:47 AM ET Wed, 8 Nov 2017 Updated 20 Hours Ago ber signed a deal with NASA Wednesday to help develop traffic systems for its flying car project which it hopes to start testing in 2020. The ride-hailing service published details of its "on demand aviation" ambitions last year which it has called Uber Elevate. It is now stepping up its efforts to make the project a reality. Uber said at the Web Summit tech conference in Lisbon that it signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA for the development of "unmanned traffic management." This is NASA's push to figure out how unmanned aerial systems (UAS), such as drones that fly at a low altitude, can operate safely. Uber wants to make vertical take-off and landing vehicles. That will allow their flying cars to take off and land vertically. They will fly at a low altitude. This is the start-up's first partnership with a U.S. federal government agency. NASA is also working with other companies to develop traffic management for these low altitude vehicles. "UberAir will be performing far more flights on a daily basis than it has ever been done before. Doing this safely and efficiently is going to require a foundational change in airspace management technologies," Jeff Holden, chief product officer at Uber, said in a statement on Wednesday. "Combining Uber's software engineering expertise with NASA's decades of airspace experience to tackle this is a crucial step forward for Uber Elevate." The NASA deal is the latest in a series of partnerships Uber has struck to get UberAir — which is what the new service is called — off the ground. Earlier this year it said it was working with authorities in Dallas-Fort Worth and Dubai to bring its flying taxis to those cities. ber signed a deal with NASA Wednesday to help develop traffic systems for its flying car project which it hopes to start testing in 2020. The ride-hailing service published details of its "on demand aviation" ambitions last year which it has called Uber Elevate. It is now stepping up its efforts to make the project a reality. Uber said at the Web Summit tech conference in Lisbon that it signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA for the development of "unmanned traffic management." This is NASA's push to figure out how unmanned aerial systems (UAS), such as drones that fly at a low altitude, can operate safely. Uber wants to make vertical take-off and landing vehicles. That will allow their flying cars to take off and land vertically. They will fly at a low altitude. This is the start-up's first partnership with a U.S. federal government agency. NASA is also working with other companies to develop traffic management for these low altitude vehicles. "UberAir will be performing far more flights on a daily basis than it has ever been done before. Doing this safely and efficiently is going to require a foundational change in airspace management technologies," Jeff Holden, chief product officer at Uber, said in a statement on Wednesday. "Combining Uber's software engineering expertise with NASA's decades of airspace experience to tackle this is a crucial step forward for Uber Elevate." The NASA deal is the latest in a series of partnerships Uber has struck to get UberAir — which is what the new service is called — off the ground. Earlier this year it said it was working with authorities in Dallas-Fort Worth and Dubai to bring its flying taxis to those cities. https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/25/uber...ate-event.html It also signed partnerships with aircraft manufacturers and real estate companies to figure out where the take off and landing sites for the flying cars could be. Uber said Wednesday that it also plans to trial the project in Los Angeles in 2020 along with the already announced cities. The company expects the price of a trip to be competitive with the same journey if done using UberX. It is aiming to get the flying taxi service up before the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. It also signed partnerships with aircraft manufacturers and real estate companies to figure out where the take off and landing sites for the flying cars could be. Uber said Wednesday that it also plans to trial the project in Los Angeles in 2020 along with the already announced cities. The company expects the price of a trip to be competitive with the same journey if done using UberX. It is aiming to get the flying taxi service up before the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- https://www.cnbc.com/2017/11/06/tesl...aboolainternal Tesla's head of battery engineering exits According to Wagner's LinkedIn page, he is launching a battery and powertrain startup in California. Published 5:04 PM ET Mon, 6 Nov 2017 Updated 7:51 PM ET Mon, 6 Nov 2017 Reuters Timothy Artman | Tesla Motors, Inc. Tesla's director of battery engineering, Jon Wagner, has left the electric car manufacturer, according to his LinkedIn profile. According to Wagner's LinkedIn page, he is launching a battery and powertrain startup in California. The timeline of his departure is unknown. Wagner, who joined the company in January 2013, was involved in developing technology for all of Tesla's cars, as well as the Powerwall, according to his profile. Tesla and Wagner did not respond to requests for comment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- https://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/25/uber...ate-event.html Uber is getting serious about building real, honest-to-god flying taxis Andrew J. Hawkins Published 1:10 PM ET Tue, 25 April 2017 Updated 3:42 PM ET Tue, 25 April 2017 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. http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/27/1...f-driving-vtol Today, as it kicked off its three-day Elevate conference in Dallas, Texas http://www.theverge.com/2017/4/24/15...e-event-dallas , 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. Teaming up with Dallas-Fort Worth and Dubai 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. It's a flurry of activity that's meant to signal that Uber is serious about adding flying taxis to its list of outlandish, quasi-impractical, always ambitious projects for the future. (See also its self-driving car experiments.) The company said it is aiming to publicly demonstrate its first flying taxi service in 2020, which is a lot sooner than you think, considering a lot of the technology hasn't been validated. And Uber is a company known for cutting corners and flaunting regulations in its mad dash sprint to disrupt transportation and grab market share. All of which raises the question: who's going to want to fly with Uber? If today's announcement is any indication, the answer is plenty of people. Bell Helicopters, one of the largest manufacturers of commercial and military vertical takeoff vehicles in the US (they produce both the V-22 Osprey and the forthcoming V-280 Valor), says it will be working with Uber on its flying taxi idea. "We're very excited to be collaborating with them," Mitch Snyder, CEO of Bell Helicopter, told The Verge on Monday. Standing next to his futuristic concept helicopter https://www.verticalmag.com/news/bel...cept-aircraft/ , the FCX-001, in the lobby of his Fort Worth-based company, Snyder said Uber's reputation shouldn't be a concern in relation to this project. "I can't comment on their headlines," Snyder said. "What I can comment on is Bell and our integrity. We're going to provide safe vehicles going forward. We're going to work with Uber. We're going to collaborate with them. It's an exciting opportunity." In addition to Bell, Uber says it plans to work with a handful of small aircraft manufacturers like Aurora Flight Sciences, Pipistrel Aircraft, Embraer, and Mooney. Executives from these companies will be speaking more about their collaboration with Uber during the Elevate summit in Dallas. According to Jeff Holden, Uber's chief product officer, flying taxis represent "the pinnacle of urban mobility — the reduction of congestion and pollution from transportation, giving people their time back, freeing up real estate dedicated to parking and providing access to mobility in all corners of a city." |
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