All major cities are collapsed due to traffic, while millions of users get frustrated for being trapped in long rows of moving cars.
This situation drew Jeff Holden’s attention, technical director of Uber, who already predicted a near future in which drivers from the company can perform their routes in the sky.
Holden posted his intentions on Uber’s website. In 99 pages, he presented the current problems in commuting and the air solution he proposed.
The data are alarming: it is estimated that the inhabitants from cities such as Los Angeles and Sidney spend seven weeks a year stuck in traffic jams; In Bombay, it takes 90 minutes to get to work. It is a lot of wasted time.
What is worst: medical studies link the collapse of traffic jams with their victims’ blood pressure.
Uber thinks it found the solution: the VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing), a flying car powered by electricity. It does not need runways to takeoff and landing is vertically made. The goal is that the client hires an Uber as usual, but instead of waiting on the sidewalk, he will arrive to his/her destination through the sky.
The report provides numbers regarding the saving time: it normally taked 2 hours and 10 minutes to go through Marina (San Francisco) and downtown San José route, but with the VTOL , it will only take 15 minutes.
The other great advantage is that there would not be large infrastructures: no tunnels, no traffic lights, no traffic signs. The only really urgent thing would be to create a “vertical port” network or surfaces in which these flying vehicles could land. To do this, Holden proposes to take advantage of the roofs of existing buildings or heliports.
Uber would buy the vehicles and hire the drivers and a 15-minute VTOL travel could cost $ 21.
Uber considered feasible to implement this idea in just five years, although it is necessary to have a new legislation that adapts to this new mean of transportation.
In this regard, the report notes that in the coming months , Uber will start working on this ambitious plan.