Uber steps up flying car chase with hire of Nasa engineer

Ride-hailing service Uber is increasing its efforts to pioneer flying car technology the reported hiring of former Nasa engineer Mark Moore to head its research into the area.

The company, whose chief executive Travis Kalanick last week stood down as a member of Donald Trump's economic advisory group after being inundated with criticism from its users, has said that operating vehicles through the air in metropolitan areas will allow for reduced congestion and commutes for city dwellers.

Moore published significant research in 2010 during his time at Nasa, in which he argued that the feasibility of small electric aircraft with less noise and size than a helicopter was higher than originally believed.

He will take on the role of director of engineering for aviation at Uber.

"I can't think of another company in a stronger position to be the leader for this new ecosystem and make the urban electric VTOL market real," Moore said.

Last year the San Francisco-based company laid out a comprehensive plan for how it would go about creating the new technology, but it has yet to begin any construction of such vehicles.

It has said that the transport system would rely on commuters sharing rides on the Vertical Take Off and Landing technology, vastly reducing journey times in many major cities.

"It could change cities and how we work and live," Uber's head of product said last year. "We want to offer our customers as many options as possible to move around.”

In December, Uber was reported to have racked up $1.9bn of losses for the first three quarters of this financial year, despite substantially increasing revenues.

The Wall Street Journal reported that company's third-quarter results – which are not publicly released – showed a loss of at least $800m in the three-months to September.

As well as the #deleteUber social media campaign that blossomed as a result of Travis Kalanick's position on Trump's economic advisory group, the company jumped back into a new legal fandango last month as it sued the city of Seattle in a challenge to the city’s authority to allow drivers in the gig economy to form unions.

Last year two UK drivers, James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam, brought a case on behalf of a group 19 Uber workers who argued they were employed by the company and not working for themselves.

Lawyers said the victory would affect their fellow Uber drivers and have implications for tens of thousands of workers in the so-called gig economy, though Uber disagrees and said it would challenge the ruling.