‘Great Scott! The Future is Here’: Uber Announces Dallas Will be First American City to Feature Flying Cars

Local News By Spring Sault | May 4, 2017

A joint announcement made by the City of Dallas, Texas and Uber (the San Francisco-based ride-hailing company) identifies that Dallas will be the first American city to test out flying cars. Going by the acronym, VTOL (vertical take-off and landing), these cars/aircraft will alter more than just our mode of transportation. They'll also alter the horizon as well as Dallas' regularly scheduled traffic jams, and they're part of an ambitious six-year plan unveiled by Uber for rolling out small aircraft for use-on-demand in the region.

Photo: Facebook/Maximaxoo

Known as the "Uber Elevate" project, the company has selected two cities for the launch of the VTOLs. One is Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, and the other, Dallas. In an interview with the Dallas Morning News, Uber's Chief Product Officer, Jeff Holden, has identified that Dallas was chosen as the perfect pilot city for this project based on its "rich history of aviation." Additionally, it's been noted for its rapid population growth and the high percentage of pilots in the area.

Photo: Facebook/Techdesign

According to Mark Moore, a longtime NASA engineer who has been working on the project as Engineering Director for Aviation, has explained that the construction of what are called "vertiports" (centers of activity similar to American Airlines Center) has been contracted to Hillwood, Ross Perot Jr.'s development company, and testing will commence in 2020, with five of these centers proposed for the city. Uber is planning some forward thinking, and although the possibility of VTOLs seems out-there, in truth, they're not the first company to be planning and prepping. Uber's immediate competition appears to be the more than a dozen startups in the Silicon Valley presently seeking to develop them, as well as the likes of Google, who are also rumored to be having pie-in-the-sky…'er cars-in-the-sky plans. Only time will tell, and 2020 is less than three years away. As Dr. Emmett Brown would say: "Great Scott, the future is here!"

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Source: 'Great Scott! The Future is Here': Uber Announces Dallas Will be First American City to Feature Flying Cars