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Uber and Google’s Larry Page are just a few interested in vertical take-off jets
EHang
Uber wants to take your commute to the skies.
Uber is interested in using small planes that can vertically take off for short-haul trips within cities, Uber’s head of products Jeff Holden recently told Recode. Holden added that a commercial aircraft could be viable within a decade.
But Uber isn’t the only company intrigued by the potential of jets that can take off without a runway — here are 5 others:
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1. German company eVolo is working to make its multicopter the future of urban mobility. Called the Volocopter, it has 18 rotors and can fit two people.
The Volocopter is powered by six batteries that allow for 20 minutes of flight, but eVolo is working to get that up to an hour. The company has begun manned testing in Germany and aims to roll out a production model in two years.
The final version of the Volocopter will be able to reach 62 miles per hour. It has 130 independent computers onboard that could allow it to fly autonomously later on.
2. Aircraft manufacturer Airbus is designing a flying taxi, dubbed the CityAirbus, that can be hailed on your phone just like an Uber. Forget sitting in congested traffic, hello open skies!
There’s no word yet on when we may see the Airbus, but the company wrote on its website that a feasibility study has been completed.
3. Chinese drone company EHang is working to get its giant, taxi drone in the air as soon as federal regulations will allow it. It can carry 220 pounds, cruise at 62 mph, and fly over 11,000 feet.
The EHang is another Uber-like system in that passengers would enter their desired location and the drone would then fly on its own.
A prototype of the EHang has been tested in China, but the company is still working to get approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to begin flying in the US.
4. Terrafugia is building a car that can take off, fly, and land autonomously — but you would still have to drive it manually.
The plug-in hybrid has a range of 500 miles, and it can take off vertically so you don’t need to be on a runway for lift off.
Passengers can simply enter their desired location and it will fly on its own. The company has said a production version will be ready by 2025.
5. Larry Page, one of the co-founders of Google and CEO of Alphabet, has spent $100 million of his own money on a secret flying car start-up called Zee.Aero. Zee.Aero has two prototype, electric-powered aircrafts that take regular test flights, but there’s not much information out there about them.
Above you see an early patent of the flying car that was granted January 2016. Designs show Zee.Aero is interested in using propellers for vertical take-off.
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