Hyundai announced Monday it would mass-produce flying cars for Uber’s aerial rideshare network set to deploy in 2023.
The South Korean manufacturer said it would produce the four-passenger electric “vertical take-off and landing vehicles” at “automotive scale,” without offering details.
Today we are proud to announce a major new Uber Air Taxi partnership with @Hyundai_Global.#CES2020 pic.twitter.com/9XpQvtvoK6
— Uber (@Uber) January 6, 2020
The deal announced at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas could help Uber, which is working with other aircraft manufacturers, to achieve its goal of deploying air taxi service in a handful of cities by 2023.
Jaiwon Shin, head of Hyundai’s urban air mobility division, said he expects the large-scale manufacturing to keep costs affordable for the aerial systems.
“We know how to mass-produce high-quality vehicles,” Shin told a news conference at CES. He said he expected the partnership to allow for the short-range air taxis to be “affordable for everyone.”
Read more: Boeing flying car prototype completes first test flight
Eric Allison, head of Uber Elevate, appeared at the CES event with Hyundai to discuss the partnership.
“By taking transportation out of the two dimensional grid on the ground and moving it into the sky, we can offer significant time savings to our riders,” Allison said.
He said that because of its other app-based transport options, “only Uber can seamlessly connect riders from cars, trains and even bikes to aircraft.”
Hyundai is making a drone!
Well not exactly, they’re calling the air taxi an Urban Mobility Vehicle – can take 4 + pilot. Will be operated by Uber Elevate program that they hope to get off the ground (!) by 2023. Uber talking of per seat pricing near current Uber Black rates! pic.twitter.com/91PEXIY4NO
— Sirish Chandran (@SirishChandran) January 7, 2020
Uber has announced it had selected Melbourne to join Dallas and Los Angeles in becoming the first cities to offer Uber Air flights, with the goal of beginning demonstrator flights in 2020 and commercial operations in 2023.
Hyundai is using CES to show the S-A1 model aircraft with a cruising speed up to 180 miles (290 km) per hour. The aircraft utilizes “distributed electric propulsion,” designed with multiple rotors that can keep it in the air if one of them fails.
The smaller rotors also help reduce noise, which the companies said is important to cities. The Hyundai vehicle will be piloted initially but over time will become autonomous, the company said.
Read more: Melbourne to welcome Uber’s flying taxis
Uber Elevate
The company stressed that it isn’t going to be the launch of a prototype; by 2023, the company wants to have produced a fully functioning product that will allow users to escape traffic jams through flying through the sky, according to Uber Spain’s director Juan Galiardo.
Uber has signed two Space Act Agreements with NASA to jointly investigate how to ensure that, in future, urban air traffic is managed safely and efficiently.
Uber is working with Nasa and the US Army on its flying taxis and has two aircraft manufacturers – Embraer and Pipistrel Aircraft – also on board. Last year, the company said it would open a laboratory in Paris to develop flying taxis.
GVS News Desk with additions from news agencies.