This isn’t a joke–we’re serious. Flying cars are literally on the horizon. Uber and the City of Dallas have announced that Dallas will be the first U.S. city to test out the future of transportation. Known as VTOL (vertical take off and landing) aircrafts, these new flying cars will transform the Dallas skyline and traffic jams. Called the Elevate project, Uber has chosen two cities to launch VTOLs in: Dallas and Dubai. Ross Perot Jr.’s development company, Hillwood, will build vertiports for the flying vehicles in “hubs of activity” like Arlington’s entertainment district and the American Airlines Center.
Testing will launch in 2020, with five vertiports planned for the city, according to Mark Moore, a NASA engineer working on the Elevate project for Uber. Why Dallas? According to Uber’s chief product officer Jeff Holden, Dallas is a perfect launch pad because of its “rich history of aviation,” according to the Dallas Morning News. In addition, Dallas has been noted for its rapid population growth and the high number of pilots in the area.
Uber sees a future where people commute in flights as short as a blink, with vertical landings everywhere from airports so backyards thanks to Hillwood’s vertiports. Though wild with possibilities, there are a lot of obstacles between putting an idea on paper and taking to the sky such as the high cost of operations. Other companies like Google also have their eye on the sky. Move over, Space Race.
