Uber to introduce flying cars by 2020
The international transport company Uber says it plans to launch a fleet of flying cars by 2020, the BBC has reported.
It said initial networks would be set up in the US city of Dallas and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
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The flying taxis are being developed in partnership with a handful of aviation companies and that the technologies being used are yet to be proven.
Uber is a technology company that connects riders and drivers at the touch of a button and available in 467 cities across 72 countries.
The Uber platform was evolving the way the world moves with a mission to change the way citizens of the world move, work and live.
It aspires to transform the way people connect with their communities and to bring reliability, convenience and opportunity to transport systems.
Read also: Uber launched in Ghana
In Ghana, the technology was introduced in Accra in 2016 and already the successes of the Uber commercial transport services, has angered some taxi drivers who think that Uber was taking away their business.
The taxi drivers, especially from the Committed Drivers Association last week initiated a series of media campaigns to tout their plight for government’s attention.
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Related: Uber killing our business: Ghanaian taxi drivers cry out
Globally in less than a decade, Uber has redefined the idea of flexible labour and gutted the taxi industry. The company launched a fleet of self-driving cars in the US city of Pittsburgh last year which is on its way to becoming a valuable startup.
Uber’s flying cars.
In a 99-page white paper released in October 2016, Uber said it will have a network - to be called “Elevate” - of on-demand, fully electric aircraft that take off and land vertically.
Instead of slogging down, patrons and a few other flyers will get to their destinations in a few minutes for the price of private ride on the ground same as UberX.
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According to Uber, they will not be flying cars in the sense that they will both drive on the ground and soar through the air.
In effect Uber will be using the much more exciting, Jetsons sense of the term: a future that lifts you over the brutality of traffic jams and congested roads.
Read also: Uber enjoying more patronage in Accra
Writer's email: enoch.frimpong@graphic.com.gh
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