As of October 27th, 2016, Uber has taken up the ambitious task of taking over the sky’s with the long-awaited “flying car.” Since then, Uber has remained relatively quite on how they would tackle the seemingly far-fetched project until it was unveiled on February 6th, that they have hired former NASA engineer Mark Moore.
Moore, 30, had been employed by NASA as an engineer for more than 30 years, specializing on creating conceptual designs for advanced aircraft models. Now as the director of engineering for aviation and head of research and development department, Moore will have his hands full in order to deliver the worlds first “flying car” prototype. The main setback Uber is experiencing with this project is the logistics of taking off and landing the aircrafts in tight spaces.
This idea would work fine in rural areas due to the open spaces for runways, but Ubers’ target consumers are mainly urban traveling customers. This is where Uber made the smart choice in selecting Moore because he has worked extensively on a VOTL design (vertical-takeoff-and-landing) for NASA during his tenure.
Furthermore, Moore released a white paper in 2010 describing his ideas. These VOTL vehicles would solve the accessibility problems in urban areas since they would be able to take off in a stationary vertical position and land using a hovering maneuver similar to a helicopter. Even with these promising moves in the right direction, the idea of having aerial accidents over a densely populated area creates major safety concerns for Uber’s ambitious endeavor.
