In the end it will turn out that the flying cars that prophesied films like Blade Runner or Back to the Future will eventually arrive, although not exactly the way we thought.
And is that NASA has signed an agreement with Uber Technologies on concepts and technologies related to the future urban air mobility (UAM) to make the flying taxis a reality.
Aerial Uber
This is the first NASA agreement of this type focused specifically on modeling and simulation for UAM operations. According to Jaiwon Shin, associate associate administrator of NASA for aeronautical research management:
NASA is excited to partner with Uber and others to identify the key challenges facing the UAM market and explore the necessary research, development and testing requirements to address those challenges. Urban air mobility could revolutionize the way people and cargo move in our cities and fundamentally change our lifestyle as well as smartphones.
The latest simulation and computer modeling of airspace management will be used by NASA to evaluate the impacts of small aircraft, from unmanned delivery aircraft to passenger aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing capabilities.
As small aircraft enter the market, NASA wants to make sure they do so safely, with acceptable levels of noise and without overloading the current national air traffic control system. To this end, the agency is taking advantage of ongoing aeronautical research in areas that include: traffic management of the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) at low altitude; Integration of UAS in the National Air Space System; development of fully electric general class aeronautical aircraft, etc.