Uber says it’s on track to start flying its first all-electric air taxis on a demonstration basis next year, with commercial service due to begin in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Los Angeles areas in 2023.
It’s also planning to focus on Australia’s tech capital, Melbourne, as its first international air taxi market. That’s a change from previous plans, which looked instead in Dubai’s direction.
To give potential riders an idea of what they’ll be climbing into, the rideshare company took the occasion of its annual Uber Elevate conference in Washington, D.C., to show off a mockup of the aircraft’s passenger cabin and a new video:
Like the delivery drone design that Amazon unveiled last week at its re:MARS conference in Las Vegas, the Uber concept shows its electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing craft, or eVTOL, transitioning from vertical to horizontal flight after a copter-like liftoff.
Eric Allison, head of Uber Elevate, repeated the company’s view that the cost of taking an eVTOL ride will eventually be comparable to Uber rideshare — and should be much faster than getting around traffic-clogged urban areas.
Allison said eVTOL service is sure to be cheaper than Uber Copter, the helicopter transport service that is due to link New York’s JFK International Airport with downtown Manhattan starting next month at a one-way cost of $200 to $225 for an eight-minute copter ride. (That cost includes the Uber car pickups at each end of the aerial trip.)
But there’s lots of work to be done over the next couple of years: Uber still has to focus in on the designs for its air taxi fleet and get them certified by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Uber has been working with several eVTOL ventures — including Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences as well as Embraer, Bell, Karem and Pipistrel Aircraft. Today the company announced that Jaunt Air Mobility would join the group.
During his talk at Uber Elevate, acting FAA chief Daniel Elwell made clear that the eVTOL taxis as well as commercial drones, also known as unmanned aircraft systems or UAS, would have to address safety concerns before they fill the skies. Here’s his message, boiled down to a series of tweets:
Dan Elwell, #FAA: We’re out in front with urban air mobility, or #UAM, working with the industry and with @NASA to make sure we get it right. #UberElevate
— The FAA (@FAANews) June 11, 2019
Dan Elwell, #FAA: These two movements, #UAS and #UAM, really bring into focus how fast everything is changing now compared to earlier in my #aviation career. #UberElevate
— The FAA (@FAANews) June 11, 2019
Dan Elwell, #FAA: These are some of the most exciting #innovations and developments in #aerospace since the #WrightBrothers, and it’s all taken place over the course of a few short years. #UberElevate
— The FAA (@FAANews) June 11, 2019
Dan Elwell, #FAA: Everyone is riveted by this. But then I put on my FAA regulator hat and now I’ve got a whole new bucket of stuff to keep me awake at night. #UberElevate
— The FAA (@FAANews) June 11, 2019
Dan Elwell, #FAA: You see the ideal way of transporting people across cities. I see car-sized vehicles with multiple rotors hanging over families out walking their dogs. #UberElevate
— The FAA (@FAANews) June 11, 2019
Dan Elwell, #FAA: That’s the challenge, taking an industry of incredibly bright minds and fast-moving# technology and joining that with a regulatory agency that wants #innovation, but only if it can be safely brought into an #urban environment. #UberElevate
— The FAA (@FAANews) June 11, 2019
Dan Elwell, #FAA: To be part of the safest mode of #transportation on the planet, your operation must become synonymous with #safety. That’s the only way to fully exploit the energy, creativity and #innovation of this exciting new industry. #UberElevate pic.twitter.com/6ddWhPlow1
— The FAA (@FAANews) June 11, 2019
Correction for 4 p.m. PT June 11: We originally said Melbourne was Australia’s capital city, but that honor goes to Canberra, as a commenter pointed out.