Airplane Taxi Service

"We think that towns will go vertically in transport and we want this to be a reality," Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said to CBS News, who took a look at Uber Air's Uber Air Taxi before it was launched in Los Angeles on May 8 and 9.

About said that his aerial taxi would take off like a chopper and landing vertical, but would be much less loud. This slim plane has four stacks of horizontally arranged lifting rotor blades and a rear prop so it looks a little like an outsized hobby UAV. There is room for four occupants and one aviator, although Uber said that the plane would probably be able to fly independently once its security has been proven.

Ubers Lufttaxis would be called with a smart phone application similar to the one used to call Ubers Autos, says Khosrowshahi. Pick up and drop off at " sky ports " on premises in built-up areas as well as at airport, with some sky ports potentially operating several hundred daily outings.

In order to make sure that Uber's fleet can be operated securely and effectively in highly frequented areas of the city, the airline, in collaboration with NASA, has collected aviation and security information from a research institution near Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Mr. Khosrowshahi said to CBS News that the corporation is hoping to make aerial taxi transport "affordable for ordinary people".

About will probably have to face up to the challenge of it. Airbus, Kitty Hawk (supported by Google co-founder Larry Page) and the European airline Volocopter are just a few of the firms working on similar taxi operations. However, some analysts doubted that independent aerial taxi cabs were the way forward for transport.