Uber has never lacked for ambition, at least in the driverless future it envisions. Currently tooling its self-driving cars around Pittsburgh, the company is in the planning stages of an even grander vision. Ultimately, Uber wants robots to fly around its passengers, completely autonomously.
Uber’s chief product officer, Jeff Holden, laid out the vision at a tech conference last weekend, such as it was. Uber isn’t planning on ditching cars anytime soon, but:
Holden said that he has been researching the area, “so we can someday offer our customers as many options as possible to move around.” He added that “doing it in a three-dimensional way is an obvious thing to look at.”
The idea is that the craft will use vertical take-off and landing technology, or VTOL, to essentially land a craft, pick up a passenger, and take them across the city to their next destination. If this sounds familiar, VTOL technology has been the subject of military research for decades and the armed forces, among others, would very much like a VTOL drone. Holden also has an overly optimistic timeline of a decade for getting these drones off the ground both figuratively and literally.
While it’s not necessarily a bad idea, there are a few concerns Uber will need to address. The FAA is unlikely to just rubber-stamp a flying car without substantial tests, and an automated one doubly so. It’s unlikely this thing could just land where it wants to, either, as Uber would need to find designated landing areas on buildings, in parks, and other areas. Environmental impact would also be a concern, not least because to make this cost effective, they’d need something much cheaper than jet fuel. Oh, yeah, and also there’s the minor issue of safety, considering self-driving cars still need work in that area as well. So that’s a lot of obstacles to overcome, but the idea of swooping over rush hour is arguably worth it.
(Via Vanity Fair)
