Back in 2017, ride-sharing company Uber held its second Uber Elevate Summit in Los Angeles to push the idea of flying taxis in major metropolitan areas. The idea is to have fleets of these things providing transportation for the same cost as a taxi or an Uber now.

While it seems like a Jetson’s future may still be a long way off, the idea may not be as far fetched as it seems. Numerous companies are working on the flying cars, and the technology is getting closer and closer to reality. One of the big obstacles at the moment is battery power, since most flying cars will have to be electric and the systems will need to carry a lot of redundancy (flying cars will not be able to glide much). 

Another obstacle is infrastructure. Where are all these flying cars going to take off and land? Well, Uber and the design company Gensler have been thinking a lot about this subject and just released plans for various skyports that will possibly be built around Los Angeles.  Uber says that both LA and Dallas will be the pilot cities for the new service it calls Uber Air. Uber also unveiled renderings of the vehicles themselves, which include four passenger seats and a small storage space for baggage. The company says we may be riding in flying taxis, perhaps starting with service from LAX to downtown, by 2023.