Uber Plans To Test Network Of Flying Cars In Dallas, Dubai By 2020 [Video]

DALLAS, TX — Many of us were made vague promises of flying cars in our youth in a scenario that has yet to materialize. But officials at Uber on Tuesday said the opportunity to travel above ground-based traffic will arrive by 2020, and Dallas has emerged as one of two pilot cities to test the technology.

Jeff Holden, the chief product officer at Uber, offered the vision during the first day of the inaugural Uber Elevate Summit in Dallas, Geek Wire reported. Holden added that Dubai in the United Arab Emirates has been tapped as the only other municipality in which the technological marvels will be tested.

The company seeks to become not only a ride-sharing firm but a "flight-sharing" one as well, the geeks at Geek Wire noted. Beyond Dallas and Dubai, the company views the idea of urban aviation as a service that could realistically be unveiled at the hundreds of cities Uber serves worldwide.

During his talk, Holden said the roll-out could be done relatively inexpensively for future customers, with an envisioned network that could be designed to pick up passengers at stops along the way in what the executive categorized as "multi-mobile trips," Holden said.

“We think we can start this for roughly the cost of UberX,” he said in reference to the existing ride-sharing service based on an estimated $1.32 cost per passenger mile for early-scale operations. Holden noted the cost would fall below variable costs of long-term car ownership.

“When you sanity-check that, you say, ‘Why is this possible?'” Holden said, as quoted by Geek Wire. “It’s possible because we’re radically changing the type of aircraft we’re talking about here, and we’re doing it at mass scale.”

Holden acknowledged "UberAir" would be dependent on creation of new vertical- takeoff-and-landing technology enabling aircraft to rely on electric propulsion to reduce the cost, noise and overall shortcomings of helicopters. But he identified a number of companies that could be approached to create that propulsion design, among them Aurora Flight Sciences, Bell Helicopter, Embraer, Mooney International and Pipistrel.

“Each of them brings something specific that we think is very powerful to maximize the ability to rapidly develop and deliver these to market,” Holden said. Later in the conference, Uber announced it had selected Aurora Flight Sciences as a partner to develop so-called electric-vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) aircraft for use in its Uber Elevate network.

For their part, officials of Aurora said the first test flight of their eVTOL subscale prototype was conducted last week and it plans to deliver 50 aircraft to Uber for testing by 2020.

Watch: Live stream coverage from the Uber Elevate Summit here.

First-generation eVTOLs would likely be initially piloted while powered with a hybrid electric system. As battery technology and autonomous control systems develop, such aircraft could develop into all-electric, autonomous air taxis, he said.

“Imagine literally landing at an airport, taking like an air train or just walking to another aircraft, getting on and landing at your final destination in minutes,” Holden said. “This is what we’re bringing to Dallas.”

Within the next year, Geek Wire reported, Fort Worth-based Hillwood Properties will start developing vertical-takeoff airports – most commonly referred to as vertiports – at four locations, including Hillwood’s development in Frisco, Texas, located between Dallas and Fort Worth, Holden said.

What's more, Uber is also partnering with ChargePoint to develop electric charging stations for the eVTOL aircraft, Holden said, adding that computer models indicate aviation networks at the pilot cities could handle some 200,000 trips per day in each pilot city.

Some skeptics suggest flying car plans won't be getting up in the air anytime soon, certainly not by 2020. But ground-based travelers gotta hate. Geek Wire suggests advancements already accomplished counter that view.

"In just the past week, Kitty Hawk unveiled its first working prototype for a personal aircraft that flies over water, and Lilium took the wraps off an eVTOL craft that it’s testing in Germany," the writing geeks reported with palpable excitement. "The list of companies testing small-scale aircraft also includes Airbus, Joby Aviation, Terrafugia, E-volo, Ehang and AeroMobil."

So there, grounded naysayers.

The Uber Elevate conference runs until Thursday. Check out a live stream of upcoming talks by clicking above.

>>> Image via PR Newswire