ELECTRIC, VERTICAL-LIFT AIR-TAXIS may someday criss-cross the skies, but the timelines their advocates are proposing are ambitious, to say the least. Uber, for example, predicted at its Elevate conference last month that it would begin deploying its system, UberAIR, in 2023. That’s going to be a stretch: the autonomous control system that will make such flight practical and affordable are in utero, the air traffic control integration necessary to make it safe and efficient are barely a twinkle in the FAA’s eye, and the regulatory blessing necessary from federal and city governments – well, let’s just say there’s nothing to bless yet.
