Uber must convince Aussies that flying cars are safe and quiet before 2023 Melbourne launch

Uber’s flying cars are heading to Melbourne. But while that may sound appealing, there’s still a major obstacle the company must overcome to win over Aussies.

“An incessant buzzing of helicopters filled the twilight,” wrote science-fiction author Aldous Huxley of self-flying aircraft crowding the urban landscape in Brave New World.

The novel was set in the year 2049 but Uber this week promised to deliver similar technology to Australia in just four years’ time.

And even Uber Elevate boss Eric Allison admits its concept for autonomous flying vehicles could have been ripped from the pages of a novel.

“Many of the employees of companies in Silicon Valley are avid readers of science fiction, myself included,” he laughs at the third Uber Elevate Summit in Washington DC this week.

“But the idea of being able to move from point A to point B not constrained by the road is just something you think about every day when you’re stuck in traffic. It doesn’t take a huge imagination to want to do that.”

An Uber Air EmbraerX prototype aircraft flying over Melbourne, one of three cities named to receive the Uber Air service. Picture: Supplied

Uber’s futuristic project, which Allison describes as the company’s “biggest, boldest bet,” still has many hurdles to overcome before we’re all zipping between skyscrapers to get to work, school, or the airport.

The company this week named Melbourne as the third city to receive its futuristic Uber Air service, after Dallas and Los Angeles, with test flights promised next year, but the company has yet settle on a final design for the ultimate flying taxi.

It also has to convince aviation bodies to certify the world-first technology, to identify the best routes and how many vehicles will service them, to establish a network of Skyports and security measures around them and, perhaps most importantly, to convince the Australian public that flying cars are safe and won’t be disruptive when hovering over their homes.

Uber Australia and NZ general manager Susan Anderson said the company was trying to improve cities, but convicing people of the new service would take some time. Picture: Getty Images

Uber Australia and New Zealand general manager Susan Anderson tells News Corp the last element might be the most important in establishing its modern-day take on The Jetsons’ flying cars.

“Our cities will look quite different if there are 200 flights an hour happening and there are many vehicles in the sky,” she says.

“We will need to take communities on a journey. We’re trying to improve cities and that is why I think communities will come on board with us but that will take time.”

A protoype of a landing pad for the flying cars. Picture: Supplied

Research indicates some commuters may need a lot of convincing.

A survey of more than 500 people by the University of Michigan found three in five people were “very concerned” about the safety of flying cars, and the same number were “very concerned” about their performance in congested airspace.

Paradoxically, more than two in five were still keen to ride the new aircraft, though, even if they operated without a pilot.

Research fellow from RMIT’s Centre for Urban Research, Dr Chris De Gruyter, says Australians will likely have lots of questions to ask about the new service, including “if those vehicles will create visual clutter in the sky” and whether they really are environmentally friendly.

But Allison insists they will be efficient, quiet, and even cheap to run by design.

Aerospace company Bell showed off a full-size prototype of its Nexus vertical take-off-and-landing aircraft at the Uber Elevate Summit in Washington DC. Picture: Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson/News Corp Australia

Six aerospace companies are working with Uber to create prototype flying vehicles the service, working to specifications set out in its 2016 white paper. Bell even showed off its full-size Nexus aircraft at the Summit.

Prerequisites for Uber aircraft include multiple rotors for safety, vertical takeoff like a helicopter, battery-powered operation to keep emissions low, quiet operation, and the ability to transport four people and a pilot, with scope to add autonomous controls in future.

Allison says it’s an “ambitious” list considering regulators in American and Australia have yet to approve a battery-powered aircraft.

“We think that it’s achievable to have certified vehicles that are running commercial operations in 2023,” he says.

“We think it’s important to have ambitious targets because that helps the whole industry to set its sights on something and take action because they’re excited about it and can move forward.”

Uber’s concept for the interior of a flying car includes space for carry-on luggage and five seats, including one for a pilot. Picture: Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson/News Corp Australia

While Uber plans to test prototype aircraft in the three cities next year, Allison says they may be more akin to “demonstrations” of the technology while a final decision is made.

Demonstrating the aircraft could also help potential passengers “understand what the noise signature is going to be like” and “what a vehicle landing on a Skyport will be like”.

“It’s our vision for a dense network of thousands of flying cars, speeding people across and through cities every day,” he says.

And Anderson makes similarly bold claims about Uber Air’s future goals.

The company will start with just two Skyports to launch and land the aircraft in Melbourne, between the city and Tullamarine airport, she says, but it will rapidly scale up the number of launch pads thanks to partnerships with Westfield operators, the Scentre Group, and infrastructure assistance from Macquarie Capital.

Plans to test the prototype aircraft next year may be more akin to “demonstrations” of the technology while a final decision is made. Picture: Supplied

New routes will then be added by analysing traffic movement data, she says, and “breaking the city down into 1km tiles to look at where people are coming in, where they are leaving, and what does that look like at different times of the day”.

Other possible Melbourne routes include commutes to Geelong and Richmond, she says, but Sydney is also within Uber Air’s sights, including flying commutes between the city and the Central Coast.

“This could change where people work and live,” she says. “It could mean that people can live in more varied areas because access to work will improve and it won’t matter if you live further out from a city.”

Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson travelled to Washington DC as a guest of Uber.

Originally published as Uber must convince Aussies that flying cars are safe and quiet before 2023 Melbourne launch