Uber copter
UBER COPTER TRIAL
In a speech in Washington DC last year announcing Melbourne as a trial city, Victoria's Assistant Treasurer Robin Scott MP praised the scheme as holding the potential to become "an integral part of our region's transport system" that could help "lead a revolution in commuter travel" for Melbourne. Victoria 'brokering' Uber through regulatory hurdles
UBER COPTER DRIVERS
Uber is unlikely to be the applicant for the airworthiness certificate that permits an aircraft to take to the air, meaning pilots could be responsible for safety and maintenance of the helicopters, just as drivers in the Uber network operate now. "Uber's expectation … information would be kept commercially sensitive."Īlso revealed in the documents is that Uber intends to use the model it has for car-sharing, where it positions itself simply as an "aggregator" connecting passengers and aircraft operators. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), which licenses pilots and oversees air safety, also confirmed the need for secrecy: Uber has previously stated the trial cities - Melbourne, Los Angeles and Dallas - will require around 1,000 helicopters and 83 skyports to make the system work. Uber is planning to eventually use electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft. The helicopters "do not need to follow fixed routes", investment promotions agency Invest Victoria noted, " tops of buildings and parking lots can easily be repurposed as skyports." They reveal a working group of state and federal regulators working with the company "to facilitate the process" and detail about the scale and ambition of the service. The documents marked, "Commercial in confidence: Highly sensitive - do not distribute", were accessed using the state's Freedom of Information (FOI) system. "And then we don't know anything about the impact on privacy, for example, how they'll use our mobile and data networks … there's a long, long list of questions that we won't get answers to." One thousand helicopters, 83 skyports "We don't know any specifics and we don't know the basics around how many helicopters, heliports and where these things are going to fly," she said. Only scant details have been made public, until now. That is the same level as a vacuum cleaner or busy road.Ĭommunity researcher Petra Stock is concerned about the potential impact of the scheme. Uber has previously stated their target of an appropriate level of vehicle noise will be 67 decibels for a ground observer when the helicopter is at an altitude of 75 metres. "Flights will travel at an altitude of ~1,500 ft with speeds of up to 150-200 miles/hour and a range of up to 60 miles ," a key document reveals.