India Shortlisted for Uber Flying Cabs

TOKYO: Choked road traffic conditions in three megacities prompted global ride-hailing platform Uber to select India among the first five shortlisted finalist countries which could be home to an international Uber Air City within the next five years. After evaluating countries across the globe, Uber Elevate the ride-hailing platform’s aerial taxi arm announced Japan, India, Australia, Brazil and France as shortlisted countries during the first “Uber Elevate Asia Pacific Expo” in Tokyo. Uber will choose one of the cities from these 5 shortlisted countries as its third launch city after Dallas and Los Angeles in the US for its air mobility project. “Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru are some of the most congested cities in the world, where travelling even a few kilometres can take over an hour. Uber Air offers tremendous potential to help create a transportation option that goes over congestion, instead of adding to it,” the company said in a statement. The Uber Elevate team has invited conversations with stakeholders across major cities in these countries and will announce the chosen Uber International Air City within the next six months. It has established a criteria framework to select the third city, anchored around three priority principles: sizable market, local commitment and enabling conditions. In the next five years, Uber customers in the launch cities will be able to push a button and get a flight on demand. To enable this, Uber has assembled a network of partners that includes vehicle manufacturers, real estate developers, technology developers and more. Uber Elevate also announced plans to experiment with drone delivery for Uber Eats, and demonstrated how potential Uber Air routes in Asia Pacific cities could benefit local transportation systems. (IANS)