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SALT LAKE CITY — Uber is looking into offering a new form of transportation: flying passenger drones.
In an onstage interview with technology site Recode, Jeff Holden, Uber products head, said aircraft technology could become a reality in less than 10 years.
“We can someday offer our customers as many options as possible to move around,” Holden told Recode at the Nantucket Conference on Sunday. “Doing it in a three-dimensional way is an obvious thing to look at.”
With Uber recently making headway in Pittsburgh with self-driving cars, the company is planning to accelerate technology.
Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) is an aircraft that can hover, take off and land vertically, which is the same model of a helicopter. Unlike a helicopter, Uber’s aircrafts would have multiple rotors, could have fixed wings and would potentially use batteries to be more silent, according to Recode.
Although plans for these airborne passenger drones are still in early stages of development, Holden predicts it will reduce commuting time and congestion dramatically.
“It could change cities and how we work and live,” Holden told Recode.
