Watch: Uber launches contest to select third city for flying taxi launch

Uber Technologies Inc on Wednesday restarted a contest to select the third country to launch its first international airport for its flying taxi following apparent delays in getting the service off the ground in Dubai, a previously proposed market, the company announced on Wednesday.

UberAIR, as the service will be known, aims to launch demonstrator flights starting in 2020 and begin paid, intra-city operations in 2023, the company said.

Last year, Uber named Dallas and Los Angeles as its first launch cities and is now looking for a third, international metropolis to take part, Chief Product Officer Jeff Holden announced at its annual Elevate Summit in Los Angeles.

The company said it will consider cities with a metropolitan population of greater than 2 million people, with dispersed population hubs, an airport at least an hour away from the city centre and which is willing to back pooled ridesharing services.

Uber previously named Dubai as its third launch city but said on Tuesday it had reopened its selection process to include other cities which fit more of its criteria for showcasing how flying taxis can help to relieve urban congestion.

"Dubai has previously expressed an interest in (Uber's) vision but we are broadening the pool given interest from other cities which is why we have launched this criteria and process," a spokeswoman said, adding that discussions with Dubai continue.

For now, the concept vehicle is slated to have a cruising speed of between 150 miles per hour and 200 miles per hour, Uber said in a statement.

It’ll also fly at between 1,000 and 2,000 feet and can last up to 60 miles before the electric vehicle’s battery needs to be recharged. It’ll take only five minutes to recharge the battery, Uber said.

Uber has been working on a flying car concept for quite some time. The company believes that with drone technology advancing and urban transportation not the easiest for travelers to overcome, taking to the air is a reasonable solution.

Also, between the high maintenance and energy costs, pilot training and salary and the cost of maintaining large helipads and paying landing fees, Uber reckons, based on its early UberChopper experiments/promotional stunts, that a helicopter trip has a best-case operating cost of about $8.93 per passenger per mile, pretty much limiting access to just the rich.

The San Francisco-based company is working with aviation regulators around the world to win up-front approvals, marking a break from past practices that put it at odds with authorities.