LAS VEGAS - Hyundai Motor Company and Uber have agreed to work together to develop Uber Air Taxis for a future aerial ride share network.
Hyundai is the first automotive company to join the Uber Elevate initiative, bringing automotive-scale manufacturing capability and a track record of mass-producing electric vehicles.
Hyundai will produce and deploy the air vehicles, and Uber will provide airspace support services, connections to ground transportation, and customer interfaces through an aerial ride share network.
Both parties are collaborating on infrastructure concepts to support take-off and landing for this new class of vehicles.
"Our vision of Urban Air Mobility will transform the concept of urban transportation," said Jaiwon Shin, executive vice president and head of Hyundai's Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Division.
"We expect UAM to vitalise urban communities and provide more quality time to people.”
The air vehicle concept with Hyundai was created in part through Uber's open design process, a NASA-inspired approach that jump-starts innovation by publicly releasing vehicle design concepts so any company can use them to innovate their air taxi models and engineering technologies.