【Western Archives】

Uber already has self-driving cars,Western Archives and now it's on to the next frontier: Flying cars.

The ride-hailing company on Thursday posted a white paper outlining its plan for "on-demand aviation," aka flying Ubers.

"On-demand aviation, has the potential to radically improve urban mobility, giving people back time lost in their daily commutes," Uber wrote in its white paper.

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Along with a lengthy analysis of the economics and mechanics of flying cars, Uber published a bunch of illustrations of next-generation airborne transportation.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The plan involves a network of small, electric aircraft that take off and land vertically. These aircraft could be used for longer transportation, but they are also meant to be used within cities, like Uber's original cars. The first step for on-demand aviation will be using the aircraft to improve long-distance daily commutes, Uber said.

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Aircraft that take off and land vertically — called VTOL — have been around for a while. The technology, however, hasn't taken much progress toward reaching a wider market.

Uber's white paper outlines several barriers in getting this transportation to market, and how Uber will solve those problems.

The company promises that air transportation like this will be affordable and "even less expensive than owning a car." The paper outlines air transport pricing for an UberX trip that would cost $111 today. Initially, Uber's air transport would cost $129 to travel that same distance. But the company says, in the long term, that same trip would go down to $20 via air travel.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Uber isn't the first company to try to solve road congestion through flying. The startup AeroMobil has pledgedto take on Uber and Lyft through similar air technology.

The company won't actually build the network of flying cars, but instead is just trying to jumpstart the process and stake out its market share in the technology. That's not exactly surprising for the transportation company that barely owns any cars.

"We believe the urban air transportation ecosystem will only be successful with the participation of entrepreneurial vehicle manufacturers, city and national officials from across the globe, regulators, users, and communities who will be keen to interact with one another to understand how the ecosystem can shape the future of on-demand urban air transportation," the company wrote.

Get ready for Uber to take over the skies, too.

Topics Uber