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posted by on Wednesday February 08 2017, @05:18AM   Printer-friendly
from the marvel-at-the-world-of-1980 dept.

In 2010, an advanced aircraft engineer at NASA's Langley Research Center named Mark Moore published a white paper outlining the feasibility of electric aircrafts that could take off and land like helicopters but were smaller and quieter. The vehicles would be capable of providing a speedy alternative to the dreary morning commute.

Moore's research (PDF) into so-called VTOL—short for vertical takeoff and landing, or more colloquially, flying cars—inspired at least one billionaire technologist. After reading the white paper, Google co-founder Larry Page secretly started and financed two Silicon Valley startups, Zee Aero and Kitty Hawk, to develop the technology, Bloomberg Businessweek reported last summer.

Now Moore is leaving the confines of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, where he has spent the last 30 years, to join one of Google's rivals: Uber Technologies Inc. Moore is taking on a new role as director of engineering for aviation at the ride-hailing company, working on a flying car initiative known as Uber Elevate. "I can't think of another company in a stronger position to be the leader for this new ecosystem and make the urban electric VTOL market real," he says.

Uber isn't constructing a flying car yet. In its own white paper published last October, the company laid out a radical vision for airborne commutes and identified technical challenges it said it wanted to help the nascent industry solve, like noise pollution, vehicle efficiency and limited battery life. Moore consulted on the paper and was impressed by the company's vision and potential impact.

-- submitted from IRC


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  • (Score: 2) by Geezer on Wednesday February 08 2017, @10:28AM

    by Geezer (511) on Wednesday February 08 2017, @10:28AM (#464493)

    I predict that in 10 years or less, all small vehicles will be autonomous electric flying pods jointly built and operated by Uber, Tesla, and Amazon that will efficiently deliver people and products anywhere, any time with multimedia support from Comcast and productivity connectivity by Microsoft. Concurrently, physician-assisted suicide will become commonplace.

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  • (Score: 2) by Unixnut on Wednesday February 08 2017, @10:43AM

    by Unixnut (5779) on Wednesday February 08 2017, @10:43AM (#464494)

    > physician-assisted suicide will become commonplace.

    Whether you asked to be suicided or not, depending of course on how useful you are to the elites, or how much of a nuisance to them you are, respectively.

    Me... a pessimist? Never! Just extrapolating current reality forward.

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 08 2017, @03:03PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 08 2017, @03:03PM (#464545)

      I think you mean government-assisted suicide will become commonplace.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 08 2017, @03:00PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 08 2017, @03:00PM (#464542)

    This sounds great, I hope everyone else takes to the air...because I like to drive and bicycle. I already live in an area with relatively low traffic, and I look forward to enjoying empty roads in the future!

    ...Meanwhile, back in the real world, I agree with other posters that Uber is wasting money on something that isn't going to happen (at least not in any big way.)

  • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday February 08 2017, @07:21PM

    by krishnoid (1156) on Wednesday February 08 2017, @07:21PM (#464693)

    Concurrently, physician-assisted suicide will become commonplace.

    Shortly after which, it will become commoditized [wikipedia.org] due to increased demand.