What aircraft will Uber Air use?
Since helicopters were found to be costly, high maintenance and noisy, Uber is looking at a new type of aircraft for the Elevate programme. It is hoping that partner companies like Embraer, Bell, Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences, Pipistrel Aircraft and Karem will be able to come up with a sustainable prototype of an eVTOL aircraft by 2020.
This aircraft will be powered by battery, will take off and land vertically, fly the said distance on a single charge and have a certain amount of autonomous ability. Eric Allison, Head of Aviation Programmes at Uber, says the hope is that they can catalyse the industry by working with many partners for the product and infrastructure at the same time.
What are the major challenges?
There are many challenges at the moment. To start with, the type of aircraft itself has not been finalised — will it be a winged model, or something that works like a drone? Then there is the challenge around battery which should be able to sustain charge for a 100-km flight. Allison accepts that the first aircraft could be more hybrids because of the battery challenges.
Then there are the skyports where the aircraft will take off and land as well as be charged and maintained. These skyports have to be in central locations for the concept to take off and that will have a huge cost implication. Uber is trying to tide over this by planning the skyports as vertical structures in contrast to traditional airports.
The other major hurdle will be convincing city administration and aviation authorities to give the green signal for such a new concept. For now, Uber is suggesting that the Uber Air services will be restricted to an air corridor and won’t come in the way of other aircraft, especially since these are low flying.
Will the pricing be accessible for regular commuters?
In a market like India if Uber Air takes off in the next decade or so, the prices might still be prohibitive for the masses. But Allison says Even if there’s a smaller percentage of people that are able to afford at a certain price point, it still can be a very large absolute number (in India). Uber’s projections show that with enough scale Uber Air could gradually cost less than car ownership.
Are flying cars new?
Not really. The first concepts are in fact over 75 years old. There are some models that are already capable of flight. However, Uber Elevate is the first end-to-end solution conceived around these aircraft. Also, Uber Air will be the first to use electric-powered aircraft which is yet to go beyond prototype stage.