Fasten your seatbelts, and prepare to head to the sky using your Uber mobile app... maybe in the next few years. An executive that has been newly hired at Uber could signal that the taxi-hailing firm is ramping up its research on flying cars.
As reported by BBC, former National Aeronautics and Space Administration engineer Mark Moore will become part of Uber's executive team. Moore was hired to serve as director of engineering for aviation within Uber's Elevate division.
Moore has been working on the possibility of making flying cars available in the near future. The former NASA engineer even released a paper around the use of electric propulsion for aircraft.
WZZM 13 reported that Moore is putting his money on Uber CEO Travis Kalanick to execute and lead the development of flying cars. The former NASA engineer strongly believes that Uber is well positioned to be the leader in the vertical take-off and landing on-demand aviation game.
Uber has not been secretive about its plan to venture into flying cars. In October 2016, the taxi-hailing firm released a white paper regarding vertical take-off and landing on-demand aviation. The taxi-hailing firm believes that flying cars will be the perfect response to alleviate transportation congestion on Earth.
Prior to joining Uber, Moore has been one of the key members of NASA Langley Research Center. He was due to receive his retirement benefits in a year before he announced that he will help the taxi-hailing firm in its flying cars quest.
Moore believes that Uber is not aiming to just churn out a prototype flying cars. He thinks that the taxi-hailing firm will actually want to develop the technology that will make flying cars possible and commercially viable. While Uber is optimistic about the future of its project, the taxi-hailing firm warned that it might take several years before a noteworthy development could be seen.
Jobs & Hire previously reported that the Uber CEO recently left President Donald Trump's economic advisory council.
