Uber To Vertically Take Off And Land

Driverless cars once seemed an impossibility, but Uber has made them a reality in Pittsburgh, where it has introduced a fleet of autonomous cars. Now, Uber is presenting the idea of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft as a new form of short-haul transportation.

According to Recode, Jeff Holden, Uber products head, announced at the Nantucket Conference that the company is researching the concept for use in cities and predicted that the technology could be available within the next 10 years.

VTOL describes the way that helicopters take off, land and hover, but the planes that Holden is referring to could have fixed wings, multiple rotors and could use batteries to reduce noise. Holden sees no reason why these planes could not also be autonomous.

Holden, once with Amazon and Groupon, was involved in Uber’s recent rollout of self-driving cars in Pittsburgh. The self-driving technology was accelerated a few years ago after it was first mentioned by CEO and Cofounder Travis Kalanick. While VTOL is ambitious, Uber has been pursuing the idea for some time, and Holden’s idea of having landing sites in places such as the top of buildings is not unreasonable considering the ubiquity of helipads already on buildings and hospitals.

Holden also cited reduced commuter time and less traffic congestion as benefits of this type of transportation.

So far, the military has been conducting most of the research on VTOL technology, but there are also startups and big companies conducting research and experiments. Airbus is researching air taxis that would transport cargo and passengers. According to Aviation Week: “The single-passenger vehicle is being developed by A3, Airbus’s Silicon Valley outpost, under Project Vahana, launched in February. A team of internal and external developers has agreed on a vehicle design, and the prototype is scheduled to fly at the end of 2017.”

Holden is excited about the idea despite the regulatory and safety hurdles.

“It could change cities and how we work and live,” said Holden, whose ultimate goal is to eliminate private car ownership. Holden used the congestion and traffic commute between San Francisco and Oakland to promote his concept, claiming that the commute could be reduced to nine minutes for fliers in a VTOL aircraft.