Uber has revealed plan to launch a system of flying cars to move people around cities, with a goal of putting demonstration projects in place by 2020.
The ridesharing giant announced a series of partnerships to manufacture “Vertical Takeoff and Landing”, VTOL, vehicles and put networks in place, a system dubbed Uber Elevate.
The partner cities working with Uber are Dubai and the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolis in Texas.
“The goal of these partnerships is to develop a new on-demand VTOL network to enable customers in the future to push a button and get a high-speed flight in and around cities,” Uber said in a statement.
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The announcement came at a summit held in the Dallas area with partners in the project.
“What started as a simple question ‘why can’t I push a button and get a ride?’ has turned, for Uber, into a passionate pursuit of 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,” said Uber chief product officer Jeff Holden.
“Urban aviation is a natural next step for Uber in this pursuit, which is why we are working to make push a button, get a flight a reality.”