Marry Tesla to Uber and You Get eVTOL Transportation as a Service, Say UAM Pioneers
Senior executives from eVTOL aircraft developers Joby and Archer, and also would-be early urban air mobility adopter United Airlines, shared their vision in a Northwestern University webinar.
Senior executives from eVTOL aircraft developers Joby and Archer, as well as prospective operator United Airlines, presented their vision for urban air mobility (UAM) at a seminar sponsored by Northwestern University’s Transportation Center on November 17. That vision increasingly casts eVTOLs as a service—much like the concept of software as a service—inside a larger urban air mobility ecosystem.
“Think Tesla meets Uber in the sky,” said Eric Allison, Joby Aviation’s head of product. In his view, for eVTOLs to succeed they must be supported by an integrated urban air mobility (UAM) infrastructure, in terms of both physical facilities such as vertiports and booking technology that makes travel accessible and affordable.
