UT Works with Uber and Army Research Labs on uberAIR
Researchers in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin will work with the U.S. Army Research Labs (ARL) and Uber Elevate to help develop new rotor technology for vehicles that will be used in Uber's proposed urban aviation ride-share network - called uberAIR. Last year, Uber announced that the first Uber Elevate cities would be Dallas (DFW metroplex) and Los Angeles, with a goal of flight demonstrations in 2020 and plans to make uberAIR commercially available to riders in those cities by 2023. As part of the uberAIR program, the company has entered into partnerships with several major aircraft manufacturers and signed a space act agreement with NASA, which will stimulate the development of new unmanned traffic management concepts and aerial safety systems. The design of the vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft to be used in the project specifies that it is a fully electric vehicle with a cruising speed of 150-200 mph, a cruising altitude of 1,000-2,000 feet and the ability to complete trips of up to 60 miles on a single charge. "UT is uniquely positioned to contribute to this new technology, and Uber has recognized that," said Jayant Sirohi, associate professor in UT's Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics and the UT team leader on the project. "In addition to the technical expertise we bring to this area, we also already have a rig to test new rotor configurations right here on campus." Sirohi is one of the country's leading experts in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology, VTOL aircraft and fixedand rotary-wing aeroelasticity.
