Ambitious and world changing plans have been leaked from Uber for the past couple of years, including an airborne taxi ride hailing service.
But, little of the imaginative concepts have come to light, until now. Uber has just announced a collaboration with Joby Aviation, a Californian aerospace company, which has been in the aerospace industry for over a decade.
Joby jumping in means that the 2023 plans may no longer seem so jovial.
The concept of Joby came from the mind of JoeBen Bevirt upon starting the company in 2009, however little headlines have come to light in regard to the company till 2018, when it was announced the company had raised $100 million investment.
Intel, Toyota and JetBlue are just a few of the contributors, and the money has gone into financing the first working prototype of an air taxi.
In a statement from Uber, the relationship has been formed to,, “launch a fast, reliable, clean and affordable urban air taxi service in select markets.”
Neither Joby or Uber have spoken about the terms of the relationship, or whether money has exchanged hands.
However, Uber did go on to explain the parameters ech company will operate under, Joby will supply and operate the air taxis and Uber will operate as the air traffic controller and landing pads. Uber will also be the means for hailing the air taxis with the Uber application.
Jaunt, Embraer, Pipistrel, Karem Aircraft, Aurora Flight Sciences, and Bell are also working in conjunction with Uber on the airborne taxi service, so whether the Joby taxi will be the first to the air is not clear quite yet.
Although saying that they will be taking to the skies next year in Australia.
Uber has said previously that VTOL is quite an important feature for the ride hailing service to offer.
So will VTOL Airborne taxis be taking us to work in 10 years, well the jury is still out, many have tried so far, however none have flown, we will keep our eyes out in the sky for the next couple of years though, to see whether Ubers dream comes to life.
