"NASA is working with Uber on its flying taxi project"

That Waymo news from yesterday couldn't just be allowed to hang out there, it made Uber look kinda dumb, what with the thievin' and the bridges burning and stuff.

From CNBC:

• Uber partnered with NASA on it its flying taxi project called Uber Elevate
• Uber will be working with NASA to figure out traffic management for flying cars
• Uber also said that it is aiming to trial the flying taxis in Los Angeles, as well as Dubai and Dallas-Fort Worth in 2020

Uber signed a deal with NASA Wednesday to help develop traffic systems for its flying car project which it hopes to start testing in 2020.

The ride-hailing service published details of its "on demand aviation" ambitions last year which it has called Uber Elevate.

It is now stepping up its efforts to make the project a reality. Uber said at the Web Summit tech conference in Lisbon that it signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA for the development of "unmanned traffic management." This is NASA's push to figure out how unmanned aerial systems (UAS), such as drones that fly at a low altitude, can operate safely.

Uber wants to make vertical take-off and landing vehicles. That will allow their flying cars to take off and land vertically. They will fly at a low altitude.

This is the start-up's first partnership with a U.S. federal government agency. NASA is also working with other companies to develop traffic management for these low altitude vehicles....MORE

Note to journalists: Uber is eight years old, if it were smarter it would be approaching middle school, it is not a start-up.

Previously:

Oct. 2016
Uber to Challenge Airbus in the Autonomous Electric Flying Taxi Business 
As the only analysts covering the nascent as-yet-theoretical autonomous electric flying taxi market we intend to be the the go-to source for all things autonomous electric flying taxi and/or theoretical.

Aug 2016
"Airbus Reveals Ambitious Plan for Autonomous Flying Taxis" 
Your move, Uber....

Aug. 2016 
The Effect Of Airbus' Cash Squeeze On Their Autonomous Flying Taxi Project Is Probably Nil
Here's Airbus' Future of Urban Mobility page.

And here are Uber's "Fast-Forwarding to a Future of On-Demand Urban Air Transportation" at Medium and the 97 page PDF of the same name.

Discerning reader will note a potential marketing differentiation between the two companies:

While Airbus' A³ mentions parachutes on their welcome page, Uber doesn't drop the P-word until page 22 of the white paper, but then goes further by referring to the (also theoretical) bouncing-baby-all-swaddled-up approach to safety:

Achieving high perceived safety is also valuable, especially during the initial adoption. Recent GA aircraft have implemented an emergency safety mode that’s equivalent to pulling to the side of the road. By avoiding the use of a large rotor, a DEP aircraft is also able to take advantage of Ballistic Recovery Systems (BRS) whole vehicle parachutes that can be deployed in an emergency to safely bring the vehicle to the ground, and it can avail itself of other evolving safety technologies being tested such as whole aircraft airbags.

GA is general aviation, 

Ballistic Recovery is a publicly traded company probably ripe for a pump-n-dump, 2¢, last.  

And Uber isn't really challenging Airbus because while Uber says they will deploy the autonomous electric flying taxis, Airbus intends to approach things from the manufacturing side.

No word on what Apple is up to.

And NVIDIA has probably already developed the chip to make it all happen, stored in some back room in Santa Clara, waiting for the market to catch up....

And quite a few more, use the search blog box if interested.