Uber could help you commute to your job in the air by 2020. The innovators behind Uber Elevate discuss when the product will be ready, what to expect from the future of air travel in cities, and just what to expect pricing wise. Spoiler alert: Uber Elevate could be the same price as ordering an Uber X.
Mark Moore is the Engineering Director of Aviation at Uber and Michael Thacker is the Executive Vice President of Technology and Innovation at Bell Helicopter. Bell has been developing an electric, vertical take-off and landing vehicle that Uber will utilize for Uber Elevate. And the amazing part is that this product is closer to market than you may realize.
By 2020 Moore expects for test vehicles to be flying around in their target cities, and by 2023 to 2025, Uber Elevate will start commercial operations in three cities. Those three cities will be Denver, Dubai, and Los Angeles.
There are few completely electric aircrafts, but due to the short distances these vehicles will travel, Uber believes completely electric air travel is possible. That paired with Bell Helicopter's history of leading the aviation industry has led both companies to be confident in their timeline for innovation.
Moore and Thacker explain that this innovation is a solution to ground gridlock. As cities continue to grow in population, streets are becoming increasingly congested. Uber Elevate is offering a solution to this program by taking to the sky. The infrastructure building is light, which allows for such a short timeline to be possible.
According to Moore, the cost of riding with Uber Elevate could be as cheap as ordering Uber X.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
