Uber's serious about flying cars

Uber wants to reach new heights. Not content with self-driving cars on the road, Uber is getting serious about flying cars in the sky. The ride sharing company has just hired a former aircraft engineer from NASA. This follows the release of a document called Uber Elevate at the end of 2016. So what is Uber Elevate? Urban air transportation that doesn't rely on fixed routes like cars, trains, and buses use. The company claims that flying vehicle could drastically cut commute time. A trip from San Francisco Marina district to San Jose that would normally take 2 hours could be cut down to just 15 minutes. [UNKNOWN] a former aircraft engineer at Nasa is Uber's director of engineering for aviation. His experience. Vertical takeoff and landing or VTOL aircraft. These electric aircraft take off and land just like helicopters, but they're much smaller and make far less noise Uber's not planning to build a flying car though, just build the ecosystem. Now Uber's not alone in finding a future in the skies, Google's Larry Page personally funded a flying car startup called Zee Aero in 2010. Then there's companies like Aeromobil and Terrafugia that are already developing these vehicles So when could we expect flying cars? Well, Uber's definitely optimistic, outlining a 10-year plan for certifications, so testing would take place by 2025. To land all the latest tech news, visit cnet.com