Uber To Work With US Army and NASA On Aircraft Technology

Source: Uber/Handout via REUTERS

Uber announced two major, separate, agreements with both the US Army and NASA to explore technologies and conduct research on aircraft technology. Uber will work with the US Army to further quiet rotor technology that could be utilized in the future within flying cars or military aircrafts. Their agreement with NASA will result in Uber sharing data it has accumulated in its flying taxis efforts with NASA to support NASA's urban mobility program. On Tuesday, Uber released a brand new flying car prototype at its second annual Elevate Conference. Uber is one of at least 19 companies (Airbus, Boeing, and Kitty Hawk etc..) that currently are developing flying cars plans. 

Uber and the Army's Research, Development and Engineering command said in a statement that they will be building prototypes for a rotor system and testing them. The rotor system is expected to have two stacked rotors that use software to rotate in the same direction will be used in a vehicle that would take-off and land vertically. Uber and the Army have stated that this approach has not been used in a producing aircraft and they hope that it leads to a novel, quieter system. The costs for the development and testing of the prototype are expected to be around $1 million. 

Uber's partnership with NASA, the United States space agency, aims to develop software that will enable the management of a large number of aircrafts over cities. Uber will be sharing its data from its plans to develop flying taxis by 2020 with NASA, who will begin simulating whether a small passenger aircraft traveling over a cities airspace trigger traffic collision advisories. The simulation will occur over the DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth) airport during peak scheduled air traffic. 


Uber also unveiled on Tuesday it's new flying car prototype, which has stacked co-roating rotors and is expected to fly at an elevation of 1,000 to 2,000 feet. This prototype, which Uber hopes to begin using in an aerial taxi service by 2023, will be powered by electricity. 


Click here to read the full article about Uber's alliance with the US Army, here for it's work with NASA, and here for news on their latest prototype.