Fast-Forwarding to a Future of On-Demand Urban Air Transportation

We (Uber) see serious potential for a leap forward with VTOL transportation but this vision can only be accomplished in collaboration with numerous stakeholders.

As we described throughout our analysis, we believe the urban air transportation ecosystem will only be successful with the participation of entrepreneurial vehicle manufacturers, city and national officials from across the globe, regulators, users, and communities who will be keen to interact with one another to understand how the ecosystem can shape the future of on-demand urban air transportation.

While we have explored internally how to fast forward to a future of on-demand urban transportation, we have a considerable amount to learn from a wide, experienced and varied set of stakeholders.

The publication of this white paper marks the start of that journey.

From here, Uber will be reaching out to cities, vehicle manufacturers, prospective representative users, and community groups along with key business, infrastructural and regulatory stakeholders to listen, learn, and explore the implications of this urban air transportation movement.

We plan to delve into the political, policy, infrastructural, and socio-economic issues that will need to be addressed.

These will be important to sustainably and inclusively develop vehicles that meet sophisticated consumer demand and are able to operate safely, quietly and reliably in cities.

We encourage municipalities and entrepreneurs within them to reach out to us and either share their direct feedback or note their interest in exploring how Elevate could be brought to life within their city. While we will endeavor to consult with a wide range of public and private sector stakeholders around the globe in the coming 4-6 months, we will necessarily be limited in terms of where we are able to do so.

As such, we are additionally looking forward to convening a global Elevate Summit to bring together a wide set of vehicle manufacturers, regulatory bodies and public and private sector city stakeholders.

We will do so with the intent of exploring the issues and solutions that are raised during our outreach and to surface joint, shared perspectives as well as solutions that can help to accelerate urban air transportation becoming a reality.

We view this event as an excellent opportunity for cross-pollination of ideas and networking with a view toward creating lasting working relationships that best serve the future of urban mobility. We are planning for this to occur in early-2017 and will be extending invitations in the near future.