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NASA and Uber team up for urban airspace modelling project

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The US space agency NASA and ride-hailing platform Uber have signed an agreement to explore the technologies and challenges related to urban air mobility (UAM).

Urban

(Credit: NASA)

As part of the project, Uber will share details of its plans for an urban aviation ridesharing service. Announced in April 2017, the Uber Levitate Network plans to have passenger-carrying VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) in the skies by the end of the decade. However, the safety, certification and logistical challenges of such a network are considerable.

https://www.theengineer.co.uk/uber-plans-on-demand-flying-taxi-service-by-end-of-decade/

NASA will take the information provided by Uber to create airspace management simulations and models, assessing how urban VTOL passenger craft and fleets of delivery drones might interact in crowded urban airspace.  According to the space agency, this is its first agreement specifically focused on UAM modelling.

“NASA is excited to be partnering with Uber and others in the community to identify the key challenges facing the UAM market, and explore necessary research, development and testing requirements to address those challenges,” said Jaiwon Shin, associate administrator for NASA’s Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.

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