Race Jones
gangster. grace. alchemy
Uber is taking part in a joint industry and government push with NASA to develop software which the company aims to use to manage "flying taxi" routes that could work like ride-hailing services it has popularized on the ground.
Uber said on Wednesday it was the first formal services contract by the U.S. National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) covering low-altitude airspace rather than outer space. NASA has used such contracts to develop rockets since the late 1950s.
Chief Product Officer Jeff Holden also said Uber would begin testing proposed four-passenger, 200-miles-per-hour (322-km-per-hour) flying taxi services across Los Angeles in 2020, its second planned test market after Dallas/Fort Worth.
Uber envisions a fleet of electric jet-powered vehicles - part helicopter, part drone and part fixed-wing aircraft - running multiple small rotors capable of both vertical take off and landing and rapid horizontal flight.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...lying-taxi-air-control-software-idUSKBN1D81AE