UBER is moving one step closer to its aerial vision. Recently, the company presented a first look at its flying taxi booking service, ahead of the expected launch in Dubai later this year. The program, under the name UBER Air, will allow travelers to book the electric taxis of Joby Aviation in a process that will be familiar to anyone who has ever used the UBER app on the ground.
The booking experience was designed to be simple and similar to ordering a regular car: After entering the destination in the app, the UBER Air option will appear for relevant routes. The system will not only reserve a flight, but will also coordinate an UBER Black vehicle that will pick up the passengers and drop them off at Joby’s “Vertiport” (vertical takeoff port).
Joby’s aircraft, built specifically for urban flight, are capable of carrying up to four passengers and luggage, inside an interior space the size of an SUV. These taxis reach a speed of approximately 320 km/h with a flight range of approximately 160 kilometers. Technically, the aircraft are equipped with four battery packs and a flight computer with triple redundancy for safety purposes.
Despite ambitions for autonomy in the future, at this stage the flying taxis are not autonomous and each one will have a human pilot on board. The presence of a pilot raises questions regarding the price, as this is manpower that is significantly more expensive than UBER’s contractor drivers, but the company insists that the ride price will be similar to that of a luxury UBER Black ride.
Dubai is only the starting point. Joby, which is based in the US, is in the final stages of receiving licensing approvals from the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and is aiming for launches in Los Angeles, New York, the United Kingdom and Japan. However, experts are divided regarding the feasibility of the venture in American cities in the near term. While President Trump signed executive orders last year to promote pilot programs for such aircraft, safety and cost considerations remain a significant obstacle.
Robert Ditchi, an aviation expert and test pilot from Los Angeles, expressed strong skepticism in an interview with NBC News and claimed that the service is too dangerous for a dense urban environment. According to him, beyond the risk of crashing into buildings or people, the economic model will not be sustainable without heavy government subsidies.
The relationship between UBER and Joby has continued since 2019, and in 2021 Joby acquired the UBER Elevate division, which strengthened the integration between the companies. Last year, Joby also acquired the passenger operations of Blade Air Mobility, which may pave the way for the electrification of existing flight routes in the future.