UberAir announces 5 cities that could host its flying taxi service

By Sasha Lekach2018-08-30 05:00:00 UTC

First, there was Dallas and Los Angeles. Now Uber wants a third city to fly its air taxi service, and it’s looking internationally.

In what feels like Amazon’s search for a second headquarters location, Uber this week announced its shortlist for countries the ride-hailing app would work with to launch its aviation project UberAir, a flight-sharing network with electric vertical take-off and landing (e-VTOLs) aircraft. The planes are expected to cruise at about 150 mph and reach about 2,000 feet. The electric planes will go 60 miles on a charge.

The countries were announced during the Uber Elevate Asia Pacific Expo in Japan. The list includes Japan and the cities of Tokyo and Osaka; India with Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore; Australia in Melbourne or Sydney; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Paris, France, where Uber already announced an Advanced Technologies Center to study and develop flying cars.

Uber already announced that Los Angeles and Dallas would be the first American cities to demo its flying taxi system in 2020, with flights expected to be offered to commercial fliers by 2023. Last year, Uber produced a slick, futuristic video (above) to preview what that might look like.

But first, Uber has to determine which international city will join in the company’s ambitious plans. 

During the expo in Japan, Uber presented potential flight paths for cities to show what it could look like when a customer orders a short plane ride from an app.

Here’s a proposed trip near Tokyo from Haneda to Narita airports:

Uber says its e-VTOLs would take under 20 minutes to cover about 40 miles (what is usually nearly two hours by car). Uber also showed potential routes in Delhi, Mumbai, Seoul, Sydney, and Taipei. 

Preference is being given to high density metro areas with more than 2 million people so that pooled flights make sense. Uber says it also wants “polycentric” regions (urban areas made up of multiple cities), and would rather work with cities that already cooperate smoothly with Uber on the street. Uber has a full list that goes deep into its criteria.

Separate from Uber’s search, Bloomberg reports that Japanese government officials are moving ahead to develop a flying car system. The country is in talks with Uber and other aviation companies to bring short-haul, commuter flights to the country within the next 10 years.

No word yet on when the UberAir finalist cities will be announced, but if it’s anything like the Amazon search for a second headquarters, this might take a while.