NEW DELHI: World’s largest cab aggregator Uber on Thursday announced that it has shortlisted India and four other countries as potential markets where it may launch its air mobility services in the next five years. Under its ‘Uber Elevate’ project, the Softbank-backed firm has shortlisted five countries — India, Japan, Australia, Brazil and France — apart from the US, to start its ambitious project.
Uber hopes to start operating demonstrator flights in 2020 and begin commercial operations in 2023 in three cities. At present, it has named Dallas and Los Angeles as its first two launch cities in the US.
In India, they are likely to place their bet on Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru. Uber said that these are among the most congested cities in the world, where travelling even a few kilometres can take over an hour. It is anticipated that going aerial might cut travelling time between Delhi and Gurugram to 10 minutes.
According to a whitepaper on the Uber Elevate website, a ride between Marina in San Francisco to downtown San Jose is expected to take 15 minutes (43.3 miles) in a VTOL (vertical take-off and landing) aircraft compared to 1 hour and 40 minutes in an Uber cab (56.9 miles) and 2 hour 12 minutes in Caltrain (55.4 miles). The Uber Elevate team will engage in talks with stakeholders across major cities in these countries, and announce the chosen Uber Air international cities within six months.
The company said that the selection of cities will be based on factors like size of the market and availability of enabling conditions. “In pursuit of our first international launch market, where you will be able to push a button and get a flight, we are announcing a shortlist of five countries where Uber Air can immediately transform transportation and take our technology to new heights,” Eric Allison, head of Uber Aviation Programmes, said.