Uber hires NASA engineer Mark Moore to lead Uber 'Elevate'

Uber has hired NASA engineer Mark Moore as the Director of Engineering at Uber Elevate; its flying taxi project that is expected to take off in next few years.

Mark Moore, a 30-year veteran of NASA, is the one who was successful in drawing eyeballs to the concept of 'vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) crafts.' In 2010, Mark Moore published a white paper outlining the feasibility of electric aircraft that could take off and land like helicopters for short-distance urban flight.

Moore joined Uber because of the company's interest in VTOL. Uber recently published its white paper on VTOL craft, and Moore was "impressed by Uber’s work on the subject" according to TechCrunch. The report says that the key to Moore's decision to join Uber "was that the company seemed to have a practical business case for making a flying commuter transit service real – and nothing would ever get done without market motivation behind the vision."

Uber Head of Product for Advanced Programs Nikhil Goel told TechCrunch, "Uber continues to see its role as a catalyst to the growing developing VTOL ecosystem. We’re excited to have Mark join us to work with companies and stakeholders as we continue to explore the use case described in our white paper."

Uber's flying cars are expected to be powered by electricity and be able to travel somewhere between 50 to 100 KMs on a single charge. The company is aiming to get to a point where passengers can request autonomous, flying cars through a mobile app, to take them to their destinations with a minimum of hassle.

“VTOL aircraft will make use of electric propulsion, so they have zero operational emissions and will likely be quiet enough to operate in cities without disturbing the neighbours,” Uber wrote in its White Paper in October. “At flying altitude, noise from advanced electric vehicles will be barely audible.”
Uber is also planning to host several summits with the aim of bringing groups interested in VTOL technology together to achieve faster results.

Apart from Uber, Airbus and two startups funded by Google’s Larry Page, are also interested in the VTOL technology and are currently exploring the field.