Uber Elevate’s Eric Allison to Discuss eVTOL Urban Transport at NBAA-BACE Keynote

Oct. 2, 2018

The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) welcomes Eric Allison, head of Aviation Programs at Uber, leading the Elevate initiative to re-imagine urban transportation through the air. Eric will speak about the developing industry for electrically powered vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft during the Day 1 Keynote at the 2018 NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE) taking place Oct. 16-18 in Orlando, FL.

Eric joined Uber earlier this year to spearhead development of a real-time, on-demand, global network of “aerial ridesharing” vehicles through partnerships with eVTOL manufacturers, as well as real estate and technology developers and others. The goal of this project is to launch uberAIR, which will allow consumers to push a button and get a flight.

Uber’s first U.S. uberAIR cities will be Dallas-Fort Worth/Frisco, TX and Los Angeles, CA, with the goal of flight demonstrations in 2020, and Elevate commercially available to riders in 2023 in these cities. View a video about uberAIR.

“The development of eVTOL aircraft holds significant promise for a wide variety of business aviation applications, and the potential to transform on-demand aerial transportation,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. “We look forward to hearing Eric’s perspectives on this rapidly evolving industry at the NBAA-BACE Day 1 Keynote.”

Previously, Eric spent eight years at Zee Aero leading the development of the Cora vehicle, a two-place self-piloted air taxi. He was part of the founding team at Zee, and served as CEO from 2015 to 2018. Throughout this time, Eric received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Milwaukee School of Engineering and his M.S. and Ph.D. from the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University, studying under a Stanford Graduate Fellowship. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including the Ballhaus prize for best Ph.D. Thesis and the grand prize at the Stanford BASES E-Challenge competition, and he currently serves on the NASA Advisory Council Aeronautics Committee.

NBAA-BACE is business aviation’s most important annual event, where participants have an unequaled opportunity to view the latest business aircraft, products, technology, and services the industry offers. Held this year at the Orange County Convention Center and Orlando Executive Airport, the event also offers a premier networking venue and dozens of educational sessions.