British GQ - 04.2020

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At least they will be once everyone

starts taking air taxis. Which, yes,

are now actually a thing

Story by Charlie Burton

W

e’re as cynical as you

about talk of flying cars.

But right now, a race led

by corporate giants such

as Toyota and Boeing is

underway to dominate the “air taxi” market,

which JP Morgan estimates will be worth up

to $2.9 trillion by 2040. Exhibit A: Uber’s

catchily named “S-A1” (pictured), which will

be produced by its new partner Hyundai. Its

goal is to flight-test the electric “air taxi”

this year and make Uber Air commercially

available in 2023, starting with three cities:

Dallas, Los Angeles and Melbourne. So why

go with an automaker rather than an

aviation outfit? “It unlocks Hyundai’s

mass-production strengths and

manufacturing experience,” Eric Allison,

head of Uber Elevate, tells GQ. The design is

set to travel at up to 200mph at a maximum

altitude of 2,000 feet – and, presumably,

look annoyingly cool to the chumps stuck

in traffic below.

+

Uber and Hyundai unveil

their aerial e-taxi concept,

which will take off from a

hub (left), at CES 2020

04-20DetailsDrone_3437036.indd 52 06/02/2020 07:31

60 GQ.CO.UK APRIL 2020