Le 11 June, Uber organised the third edition of its event Uber Elevate Summit. This is an opportunity for the American transport giant to reaffirm its ambitions in the field of flying taxis. Hitherto confined to its domestic market, Uber Air's development plan will now focus on the international market: Melbourne will become the third pilot city, after Los Angeles and Dallasas announced by Uber executives. They even set out the timetable for the programme, with the first test flights scheduled for 2020 and the launch in 2023.
safe, silent electric vehicles transporting tens of thousands of people across cities for the same price as an UberX journey over the same distance
According to Eric Allison, head of Uber Elevate, the journey time between Melbourne's business district and the airport (19 km) would be reduced to around ten minutes, compared with almost an hour at peak times.
" Uber Air aims to open up urban air mobility and help reduce congestion on the ground." say those in charge of the project, who envisage " safe, silent electric vehicles transporting tens of thousands of people across cities for the same price as an UberX journey over the same distance" .
While we wait for our autonomous flying taxis to take to the skies in major cities, Uber is launching the 9th July a helicopter service to New Yorkbetween Lower Manhattan and JFK airport. The service Uber Copteraccessible via the VTC service's app and reserved for Platinum and Diamond members of the loyalty programme, will cost between 200 $ and 225 $ per passenger for an eight-minute journey. Uber also offered this service at the Cannes Film Festival in 2017 and may extend it to other major cities in the future. In the meantime, Uber is also planning its services under the sea. Between May and June, the VTC specialist offered the following experience ScUbera small submarine designed to explore the Great Barrier Reef. An innovation designed above all to highlight the need to preserve this unique environment.
