Flying Electric Robo-Cabs Are Coming to Oregon

When approved, they'll cost about as much per mile as a regular taxi, says Airbus.

By Matthew Korfhage

Fuck surge pricing. The cabs of the future will be driverless, electric-engined octo-copters that can soar over traffic jams, and they'll cost the same as regular taxis do now—about $1.50 to $2.50 a mile.

And they're coming to Oregon this fall for flight tests.

Airbus announced this month that their "Vahana" project would be conducting its flight tests starting in November at the Pendleton's Eastern Oregon Regional Airport. The Vahana fleet is expected to arrive starting in October, and Airbus has said they expect to have a demonstration model ready for production by 2020 that could then be turned into a saleable product.

The aircraft will use lidar—basically radar, except with lasers—and cameras to navigate and avoid obstacles like birds. It'll also have a parachute in case it hits a bird.

Others are in the hunt alongside Airbus. Germany's e-Volo also expects to have an airborne taxi service up and running by 2018, and Uber expects to have theirs going by 2021.

But Pendleton's going to have futuristic robo-cabs buzzing around in about 3 months—and in case you didn't notice, there's now a $59 flight from Portland to Pendleton.

Anyway, here's the oddly soothing hype video Airbus put out this year:

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