Uber eyeing the skies

Uber has unveiled its first four-passenger electric “flying car” concept aircraft with rotors which can reposition to help it fly after a vertical take-off and can travel 2,00o feet above the traffic at  150-200mph (241-321kmph). The Flying taxi will be initially flown by pilots but the company has plans to make them autonomous in the near future.

Flying cars will need to safely operate in a crowded airspace, near small drones and traditional aeroplanes and safety of the flying cars need to be proven and new regulations will need to be developed. Uber’s flying car has most of its propellers face upward like a helicopter’s main blade and another one is positioned forward like a plane. The flying cars technically referred to as VTOL or vertical takeoff and landing vehicles seem like glorified helicopters.

Aviation giant Airbus is to have a startup backed by Google (GOOG) co-founder Larry Page.