Your FLYING Uber is arriving! Hyundai and the ride-hailing firm team up to develop a fleet of electric flying taxis, with a concept craft making its debut at CES

• Hyundai will produce and deploy the vehicles and Uber will provide ride-share
• The flying taxi seats four passengers with a pilot and can travel for 60 miles
• Hyundai revealed a concept flying taxi at CES in Las Vegas this week 

By REUTERS

PUBLISHED: 22:46 EST, 6 January 2020 | UPDATED: 20:14 EST, 7 January 2020

Uber and Hyundai have joined forces to develop a fleet of electric flying taxis.

The South Korean carmarker will produce and deploy the air vehicles, while the US firm will provide aerial ride-share services.  

A concept electric aircraft was unveiled for the first time at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas Tuesday, which is designed to carry up to four passengers with a pilot and fly on trips of up to 60 miles (100 km). 

Other global players have unveiled investments in startups that aim to deploy electric flying cars capable of vertical takeoff and landing, but there are big technological and regulatory hurdles to the plans.

Uber and Hyundai, for instance, gave widely different timelines for commercialization, underlining these challenges.

+8

A concept electric aircraft was unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas (pictured)

'We've been making steady progress towards a goal of launching Uber Air by 2023,' Eric Allison, head of Uber Elevate, said at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Euisun Chung, Executive Vice Chairman of Hyundai, expects commercialization of urban air mobility service in 2028, saying it takes time for laws and systems to be in place.Share

Hyundai is the first carmaker to join Uber's air taxi project, which also counts Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences among its partner firms.

Uber, which has partnered with eight companies on its air taxi project, however, acknowledged it would be 'unrealistic' to expect all its partners to go to market at the same time.

+8

Hyundai is the first carmaker to join Uber's air taxi project, which also counts Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences among its partner firms

Hyundai Uber concept flying taxi shown off in promo vid

Loaded: 0%

Progress: 0%

0:00

Previous

Play

Skip

Mute

Current Time0:00

/

Duration Time0:27

Fullscreen

Need Text

'Our plans for our limited commercial operations in 2023 will likely involve other partners,' Sarah Abboud, Communications Manager at Uber, told Reuters.

And Hyundai is expected to debut its concept electric aircraft developed with Uber at CES.

'The overall cost to produce and operate UAM (urban air mobility) vehicles should be really low enough for everyone to enjoy the freedom to fly,' Shin Jai-won, Head of Urban Air Mobility Division at Hyundai Motor, said.

+8

Hyundai showed off a concept flying taxi it has been working on with Uber. The vehicle will eb all electric and travel for 60 miles on a single charge

+8

Hyundai has been working on designing and developing the vehicle and Uber will use its ride-sharing technology for the public to request the flying car

+8

A concept electric aircraft is set to be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week that is designed to carry up to four passengers with a pilot and fly on trips of up to 60 miles (100 km) (concept drawing) 

Air taxis come in several shapes and sizes - electric motors replace jet engines, and aircraft have rotating wings and, in some cases, rotors in place of propellers.

The urban flight market will exceed the current number of commercial airplanes flying around the world - about 25,000, Hyundai's Shin, a former NASA engineer hired by the automaker last year, estimated, without giving any timeframe.

Last year, Hyundai pledged to invest 1.8 trillion won ($1.5 billion) in what it called 'urban air mobility' by 2025.

Boeing has said it is working with Volkswagen's sports car brand, Porsche, to develop a concept electric flying vehicle that can transport people in urban areas.

+8

Uber and Hyundai have joined forces to develop a fleet of electric flying taxis. The South Korean carmarker will produce and deploy the air vehicles, while the US firm will provide aerial ride-share services (concept drawing)

+8

Hyundai is the first carmaker to join Uber's air taxi project, which also counts Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences among its partner firms. Pictured is a concept drawing

+8

There will be landing pads designed specifically for Hyundai and Uber's flying taxis. Hyundai is expected to debut its concept electric aircraft developed with Uber at CES

Published on Jan 21, 2018

The Jetsons’ futuristic lifestyle accurately predicted our everyday life decades before the 21st century’s arrival. What else can we learn from the cartoon about the future of artificial intelligence?

Watch more AJ+ In-Depth:
The Jetsons had smartphones, flying cars and robotic cleaners long before their viewers did. What clues can we take from the former family of the future to help instruct our lives?

Learn more here:
McKinsey & Company. “What the Future of Work Will Mean for Jobs, Skills and Wages.”
https://www.mckinsey.com/global-theme...

Quartz. “The White House Predicts Nearly All Truck, Taxi and Delivery Driver Jobs Will Be Automated.”
https://qz.com/868716/the-white-house...

History.com. “The New Deal.”
http://www.history.com/topics/new-deal

Presented by: Joel Stonington
Edited by: Brian Joesph
Animations by: Chia Liu
Produced by: Imaeyen Ibanga
Executive Producer: Sarah Nasr

Music tracks courtesy of APM and Audio Networks.
Footage and images courtesy of Getty, Reuters, Hanna-Barbera/Warner Bros., Amazon, Voice of America.

Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ajplusenglish
Download the AJ+ app: http://www.ajplus.net/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ajplus

• Category

  • News & Politics