Uber two years ago came with an idea to start their new project Uber Air, providing to customers not only typical ground taxi option but also sky taxi. They believe that aerial taxi will provide rapid and comfortable experience to app users. Unfortunately with this innovative project comes as many pros as cons.
Let’s begin with Pros of this innovation.
Safety. As we all know aerial transportation is currently the safest of the options we have. Regardless of weather conditions, air transport will handle it. Almost zero chance of a collision with another object by a flying vehicle. “eVTOL aircrafts will be certified by relevant civil aviation authorities”. Annually there are only a few life or health threatening cases in aviation which makes it top 1 safest transportation option.
“Elevate is working with NASA and the FAA to develop these new mechanisms and show that they will preserve the safety of the National Airspace System.”
Environment. Uber ensures that their machines will be 100% eco-friendly. 10 x electric motors with no gearboxes or cross-shafts. It is said that Uber air vehicles will be up to one hundred times quieter than modern helicopters. They are planning to create quiet and surrounded by trees Greenfield mobility hubs, in comparison modern airports create a lot of noise and require the disposal of any taller vegetation in the vicinity of the facility.
Comfort. Flying over the city definitely will reduce the time spent in Uber “cab” due to avoiding ground traffic jams. Not only avoiding traffic jams will reduce the time but also the possibility to travel in a straight line instead of driving the car as we are led by the road.
Partnerships. In order to perfectly execute this project uber partnered with many companies related to real estates, aircraft manufacturers such as :
OEM partnerships : Joby, Aurora Flight Sciences, Bell, Hyundai, Jaunt, Overair, Pipistrel Aircraft
Infrastructure partnerships : Hillwood, Macquarie Capital, Oaktree, Related
Uber Elevate ecosystem partners : NASA and many more.
As I said unfortunately they are also Cons of this project let’s discuss them.
Safety. Despite aviation being the safest sort of transportation Uber Elevate will not fly on such high altitudes as normal planes. This could cause problems with birds, infrastructure in the city or drones. Nowadays airports are strictly monitored and secured. Almost every modern airport is equipped of some sort of bird repellent, such as trained bird of prey or some sound system. Drones cannot fly near the airports unless you have permission.
Noise. Uber ensures us that their vehicles are almost 100 times quieter than conventional helicopters. Let’s take a different point of view on that. We know that one helicopter can cause a lot of noise and one Uber vehicle shouldn’t be a problem. The thing is that in one city they will be several of these flying ubers, flying everyday hundreds of times they could cause a lot of noise.
Costs. Building infrastructure, building vehicles, hiring professional pilots it all requires a lot of money and support. Without sponsors and crowds of customers the project won’t survive long. What is the factor that attracts the public ? Low prices, easy and comfortable access. Uber air got almost all but definitely not prices. Estimated price of service provided will cost passenger 5.73 $ per mile in comparison for ground Uber 0.464-0.608 $ per mile which is a huge difference. It is said that Uber Air will lower their prices to 1.86 $ and then to 0.44 $ but we don’t know how long will it take.
In conclusion UberAir is great idea which will probably take place in 2023. It has many pros but also cons. If they want to attract as many customers as possible and they need to do that in order to keep their place at the market they have to lower the price and definetely cooperate with community to create infrastructure suitable for everyone.
Sources :
https://www.theverge.com/2020/12/2/22086597/uber-sells-flying-taxi-elevate-joby-aviation
https://www.uber.com/us/en/elevate/
https://www.uber.com/us/en/elevate/uberair/
https://www.uber.com/us/en/elevate/vision/
https://techcrunch.com/2018/05/08/heres-how-much-ubers-flying-taxi-service-will-cost/