By 2020 Uber plans on having small planes available for transporting people to different places. Rich people, we assume. By partnering up with NASA, they’ll create a safe and viable environment that’ll allow several planes to travel in the air safely and simultaneously.
According to USA Today, the project is known as UberAir or UberElevate and it’ll plan on increasing air traffic in ways that haven’t been done before. NASA has been working on different ways to improve air traffic and transport for a while now, with several unmanned vehicles and drones flying over 500 feet high within close range of each other.
Uber’s plans are to create several of these air taxis, which will land vertically on rooftops and flat surfaces, and pick up passengers to deliver them to other areas. The initial cities of focus for this project – which are the ones who dispose of the most appropriate space for the trial period – will be Los Angeles, Dubai, and the United Arab Emirates.
This isn’t Uber’s first time when innovating or trying new ways of transport that include air travel. UberChopper has been functioning for some time now, moving people through relatively close distances. The flat rate for an UberChopper between New York and The Hamptons is 3,000, allowing you to travel with up to 5 passengers. UberChopper used to be available in your regular Uber app, just past the fancy and pricey SUV. Currently, this function is kind of an urban myth, unavailable on the app but with people claiming that it still exists.
