Uber has a vision that could revolutionise transportation. In early 2017, it plans on hosting a summit wherein it hopes to lay out a potential roadmap.
According to Uber, the future of transportation is literally looking up: it envisages commuters to take to the skies in less than a decade from now.
On Thursday, Uber Technologies Inc. released a white paper wherein it envisions commuters hopping onto small aircrafts, which take off and land vertically, to arrive at their destinations within minutes.
As you may have guessed, eventually these planes will be unmanned.
Uber sees flying rides as not only feasible and affordable too.
Early next year, the company plans on convening a global summit which explores the possibility of on-demand aviation. Already Uber offers helicopter rides to commuters in Brazil.
As per its vision, small electric aircrafts, which could take-off and land vertically, will not only reduce congestion but also save time for city dwellers and long-distance commuters.
Vertical take-off and landing aircraft (VTOL) aircrafts have been studied in depth for decades by the military, NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration.
In order to make it cost effective, Uber is exploring self-driving technology. Costs could be slashed by eliminating the need for pilots.
Detailed in a 97-page document, Uber’s vision states that on-demand aviation will be affordable and achievable in the next decade assuming effective collaboration between regulators, communities and manufacturers take place.
The document even predicts that owning a VTOL plane could be less expensive than owning a car.
The current impediment to this idea is battery technology. Battery technologies will have to enable them to be more powerful, charge faster, have longer lifecycles while making them cost effective.
Similarly, infrastructure for VTOL planes will also have to be created, regulatory hurdles crossed, and certification by aviation authorities will have to be got.
In order to take its vision forward, in the next six months, Uber plans to reach out to stakeholders and explore the implications of such a transport system and exchange ideas before holding the summit in early 2017 wherein it will delve deeper into issues, explore solutions and essentially try to accelerate urban air transportation.
Categories: Creativity, Entrepreneurship, HR & Organization, Regulations & Legal, Strategy, Sustainability
manageria.biz 
Leave a comment