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Uber air taxi plans leaked
 

Uber’s plans for a fleet of 1000 electric air taxis in Melbourne are revealed through a freedom of information request.

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2020-...92?pfmredir=sm


ABC’s editorial line is that they are “fast and noisy” and claim uber’s rollout of ground taxis proves they have “ no great respect for governance or law”.

ABC also state that there was angry response to the noise and privacy issues raised when amazon tested delivery by drone and that there is likely to be similar complaints to these “choppers” which they report from Uber’s submissions are as noisy as a vacum cleaner.

ABC suggest that there is no regulations nor regulators that protect the public from noise and privacy of drones and that decisions about the location of 80 uber heliports are being made in secret.


What a beat up!

The uber Melbourne Service will commence this year using existing single rotor helicopters between existing heliports.

mjb

there is just so much rubbish in that it's difficult to even know where to start. More to the question, how and when did we get to a point where big business and media can keep promulgating complete fantasy like this?

does make for fantasy interesting reading though-:)
Most know it's pie in the sky stuff but hey 'The Jetsons' was fanciful all those years ago and still is! -:)

From the ABC article:

The author is living with the fairies.

The trial in Canberra of uber eats delivered by air very quickly turned to farce as the article refers to, as the constant buzzing noise drove the residents mad. It takes how long to develop an airliner yet 100's of these scaled up drones apparently will be allowed to criss-cross the skies over Melbourne, one assumes in a city version of Class g and a great big CTAF!

“bold” - or perhaps delusional.

I should not read things like this when I am drinking my coffee. It is dangerous!!!

This would have to be the most profound part of it

Reality is that CASA will not allow that in regard to commercial operations. So what's the Plan B?

Probably buttering them up in the push for a AOC Dispensation.

Everyone said that about Uber and cars... “unqualified” drivers and standard vehicles belonging to private owners.

The federal government didn’t fight against it...
CASA will have to throw a lot of money at it to stop it. If Uber has a lot of cash it will be hard to stop them.

Two things will kill it. Cost and backlash from the local communities

Just look at who runs the finance industry. No doubt, mum and dad investors are to be fleeced again with another artificial bubble that goes pop at the right moment by those selling this dream.

Word on Uber eats and the like are that the mugs using it are quickly discovering their food is actually coming from dark kitchens (shipping containers set up as kitchens) and that the restaurants using it don't profit from it. It's days are numbered unless I have underestimated the poor taste of the general public.

In the UK it's passed the point already of critical mass. You go into any McDonalds, KFC etc and at the counter is a line of couriers waiting to pick up orders to deliver. Towns are constantly abuzz with scooters whizzing around. Just like Internet shopping killed the High Street I predict UberEats etc will kill going out to eat. With the Internet for movies etc and remote working soon people just won't go out at all! Even Peleton now brings cycling from the gym to your living room...

You have undererstimated the poor taste of the general public. :E

The difference is that Uber taxis use cars that have already been developed for 120 years and drivers who have been licenced by a state authority. There is no risk to doing this, because nothing new was introduced, just a different way of calling for the ride. An Uber can call in to a fuel station for a top-up in 5 minutes, and there are a squillion of them. An Uber can have an emergency power failure and just pull over to the side of the road. An Uber can (usually) carry 4 passengers.

Uber-Jetson needs a totally new aircraft to be invented, tested, certified and produced. Batteries can't cut it yet. Propulsion systems need to be scaled up to carry 4 or 5 POB. Reliability is yet to be created.
It needs a totally new airspace classification to be developed, tested and accepted, by CA$A / AsA and the public.
It needs a radical development of collision avoidance and guidance to be invented.
It needs the public to accept vertical takeoff aircraft buzzing at 500' and landing in new places - the NIMBY group will stop that, same as they have stopped helipad development and use.

It will NEVER happen, except in glossy CG videos to lure in gullible investors.

It will happen, but on a much, much smaller scale and longer time-frame than the venture capitalists are being conned into believing. Of the near-on 200 designs for eVTOL aircraft out there today, only a tiny fraction will make it through certification and into production and the costs per unit, with design, test, certification costs amortised, will be a lot higher than anyone envisages today. Charging infrastructure is also a massive challenge, a five unit dedicated port probably needs a megawatt supply.

The balance of corporate, regulatory and legislative decisions is heavily influenced by public opinion. For example, when Alphabet (Google) trialed project Wing in Canberra CASA/ASA were later scruitinised for inconsistent assessment of drone technologies only after the public kicked up a fuss over the noise and intrusive nature of drones buzzing overhead. I imagine companies like Uber are keenly aware of how this balance can be brought together to create agency for their business model.

No comments on this, yet? Surprised.

Do you folks in Oz think the civil authorities actually expect this to happen anytime soon -- and actually want it to happen? It's a damned far-fetched notion for an urban area, it seems to me. Unless the extent of the plan is merely to serve the local oligarchs and their high-ranking minions. Kinda like helicopter service today.

An actual device that can carry a human with alacrity...till the batteries run out.

Question...…..Will those little props 'autorotate' in the event of.... ??


I don't think so......but, you're welcome to differ...

No Cheeerrrsss…