Editor’s note: The following is a transcript of the accompanying video. ©2020 Thomson Reuters.
Your Uber ride may be airborne one day — and it’s likely to be a Hyundai.
It’s the first carmaker to join Uber and help make its so-called Air Taxis a reality.
If successful, these electric, flying cars could ease traffic jams and take off on demand.
That’s according to Hyundai’s Jaiwon Shin.
Jaiwon Shin, Hyundai’s head of Urban Air Mobility, said: “We will be able to fly on demand. Just imagine that, rather than fitting our lives around an airline’s schedule. I would like to call this new era an era of ‘liberation from gridlock’ and the ‘democratisation of flight’.”
Hyundai unveiled its concept air taxi on Monday [6 January] at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show.
The SA-1 is expected to fly trips of up to 60 miles [97 km] and up to 180 miles [290 km] per hour. It will carry up to four passengers with a pilot.
It’s part of the wider race to launch flying cars — Germany’s Daimler, Japan’s Toyota, and others are pouring money into startups.
Uber says [it aims] to launch Uber Air by 2023. But Hyundai is more conservative and has set the goal for 2028.
