Uber Elevate Summit 2018
This year's Elevate Summit brought together 750+ of the world's foremost on-demand aviation leaders from across industry, government, and academia.
Uber Elevate Summit 2018 Highlights
Welcome from Summit Emcee and video address from Los Angeles Mayor, Eric Garcetti
Uber Elevate leadership will welcome 700+ of the world's foremost aviation leaders in industry, government, and academia to discuss our vision for how urban aviation will help cities become smarter, better, and more efficient. We’ll showcase major advancements unfolding across the urban aviation industry, exploring themes of urban mobility, technological progress across aircraft and battery systems, airspace management, operations, and product at scale.
Learn about all of the substantial progress taken place in the past year, as eVTOL aircraft development emerged into the mainstream of aerospace and aviation activity.
Bell announced its intent to enter the on-demand urban aviation market at the first Uber Elevate Summit in April 2017. Since then, Bell has rebranded as an aerospace leader embracing all forms of vertical lift, including passenger urban air taxis Uber expects to operate on the Elevate Network in the years ahead. Hear from Bell's EVP of Technology & Innovation, Mr. Michael Thacker, who directly oversees this division, as he talks about developments since last year's Summit and what this transformation means for their future in urban aviation.
Embraer announced its partnership with Uber to develop aircraft for the Uber Elevate Network at the first Uber Elevate Summit in April 2017. Since then, the company has founded EmbraerX, a Silicon Valley based outpost that exclusively focuses on new aviation technologies, including eVTOL aircraft that will operate on Uber's Elevate Network. Hear from Embraer's CEO Mr. Paulo Cesar de Souza e Silva about this new development and how it will accelerate the company's progress as it enters the urban air mobility space.
Aurora Flight Sciences announced its partnership with Uber to build aircraft for the Uber Elevate Network at the first Elevate Summit in April 2017. Since then, Aurora has joined forces with the great minds at Boeing through a November 2017 acquisition, accelerating progress in the on-demand aviation market. Hear from Aurora CEO Mr. John Langford about progress over the last year and Aurora/Boeing's plans as they bring VTOL aircraft to life.
Pipistrel announced its partnership with Uber to build aircraft for the Uber Elevate Network at the first Elevate Summit in April 2017. Hear from Pipistrel Director of R&D Tine Tomazic, about progress over the last year, as well as Pipistrel's plans for 2020 and beyond.
Abe Karem is a pioneer in VTOL technology, with decades of experience designing flying concepts including the Predator drone and A160 Hummingbird. His newest invention - The Butterfly - represents an adaptation of optimum speed rotor technology pioneered at Karem Aviation, our newest vehicle partner in the Uber Elevate Network. Abe is joined by Karem President Ben Tigner and Uber Elevate executive leader Eric Allison for this conversation about Karem's future.
Scaling eVTOL manufacturing will require building composite airframes at unprecedented rates. Icon Aircraft, in 2017, has gone from from zero composite manufacturing capacity to a brand-new, 300,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art, carbon fiber aircraft structures manufacturing facility less than a year and has set some ambitious manufacturing targets for 2018. Along the way, CEO Kirk Hawkins, has learned a number of lessons that will be critical for the Elevate ecosystem to scale quickly in the coming years.
Join us in the Taper Courtyard for an UberEats inspired lunch with a number of LA's top Eats restaurants!
Uber has taken the stance that every single vehicle will be all-electric from Day 1; it won't be easy, but we're investing heavily here because we believe it's within reach, and we’re pushing very hard on battery and fast-charging tech, working with the best companies in the space.
Learn about the most important considerations for an aviation battery pack, and how we plan to go beyond requirements for automotive and consumer electronic battery packs.
The electrification of fleet transportation operations is increasing demand on urban power distribution grids; learn firsthand how utilities and other leaders in the electrification ecosystem are prepared to manage these new demands as urban air mobility creates its own unique challenges.
ChargePoint, at the first Uber Elevate Summit in April 2017, announced their partnership with Uber to build chargers for the Uber Elevate Network. Hear from ChargePoint's CEO Mr. Pasquale Romano about progress made since then as well as exciting plans for the future.
Secretary Chao has been at the regulatory forefront of a wide range of mobility revolutions, including Autonomous Vehicles. Her welcome address will explore the DOT's principles for regulating and enabling aviation technology.
Dan Elwell, Acting Administrator of the FAA.
Elevate's mission to help support the transformation to smart cities is a global one. Local governments from across the world are working creatively on how to use technology to improve the lives of their residents. This session will hear from some of the leading policy innovators on their current work and future visions.
Elevate plans to introduce scaled eVTOL operations in and around urban areas. The airspace will also be busy with traditional air traffic as well as other new entrants. Tom will outline our approach to managing aircraft on the Elevate network at scale and coordinating operations with other users of the airspace.
NASA has been critical to helping form this new urban air mobility industry, and in 2017 Uber signed its first Space Act Agreement to collaborate on UTM and airspace management. Since then, NASA has had a number of developments in the UAM space -- come hear Associate Administrator Dr. Jaiwon Shin discuss progress to date and upcoming initiatives.
This panel will discuss how industry and government are working together to clearly define the concepts and technologies that will allow users to safely share the airspace.
Since the 2017 Elevate Summit, over $1B of private sector investment has been made in the on-demand aviation ecosystem, supporting several high profile VTOL fundraising events and aerospace M&A activity. Join this panel discussion to hear global private equity, venture capital, and institutional investors talk about investments made, additional opportunities they see, and ways they predict capital will continue flowing into this sector in the months and years ahead.
Join us in the main courtyard for dinner and drinks under the stars at the Skirball Center.
Uber is changing how people move around cities. This talk will explore the growth trends that cities are facing and the challenges of moving away from personal car ownership. It will share Uber's vision for the future of mobility and cities over the next decade, the role of Elevate, and the potential impact if we can achieve it.
Summary UAM mission requirements will be shared with objectives focused on achieving low direct operating cost and community noise, with high safety - along with the eCRM context for ensuring requirement feasibility.
Fire protection considerations for all electric urban air mobility operations. Panel will discuss relevant IFC, IBC, NFPA, ASTM, and FAA codes for Skyports, areas of concern for first responders, and testing approaches for batteries.
This presentation will provide insight into the Elevate Airspace Systems design and core principles. It will further demonstrate concepts and technologies to scale airspace operations to the demand over time.
This panel will highlight innovative approaches and operations across the globe reflecting new thinking in airspace management that pave the way for utilizing new entrants in highly beneficial ways.
This session will focus on two modeling paradigms that are being used to influence the design of the Uber Elevate ecosystem with our demand and network optimization models. We will conduct a technical review of each and describe how they are being used together to make strategic decisions that influence the evolution of network design and system operations.
What does an eVTOL sound like against an urban soundscape? We are investing in the development of tools to accurately measure and model the loudness of aircraft relative to existing background sounds. It's about loudness and perception -- not just sound pressure.
Speaker Series: The uber Air Experience - Lunch & Learn
Haas 171 & 172
Visualize the future end-to-end uberAIR experience with reimagined Skyport Architecture, Terminal Interior, and eVTOL cabin design, presented by Grad Students from ArtCenter College of Design and Savannah College of Art & Design.
eVTOL aircraft require unique analysis tools to address the challenges of tight aero-proulsion-acoustic-control coupling, along with key technology efforts to close the remaining gaps.
Establishing a certification basis for eVTOL by 2020 is essential to have these aircraft on a path to product by 2023.
eVTOL experts across diverse concept approaches share their perspectives on the challenges and opportunities these new aircraft provide.
The path to massive scale is abundant with opportunity. Witness the unveiling of several revolutionary Skyport concepts, exhibiting massive throughput within tight footprints. Prepared and presented by some of the top Architecture & Engineering minds in the Industry.
An introduction to how uberAIR will deliver reliable and affordable on-demand aviation services through operational efficiencies that maximize asset utilization and provide consistently high load factors.
New aircraft designs, advanced flight path control systems and modified cockpit interfaces, coupled with tightly controlled operations leveraging enhanced situational awareness tools will significantly reduce pilot workload -- radically simplify the the cockpit experience.
This session will explore how VTOL travel can be done in a more sustainable way -- pools, electric, and multi modal fleets. How do we enable electrification? Why has it been so hard to get commuters to share on the ground and what will it take to share in the air? What does it take to make on-demand POOLing work? How will this fit into the broader multi modal set of mobility solutions?
This session will explore how VTOL may shape the development of cities and how the development of cities will shape VTOL. With city housing costs increasing how might VTOL enable continued access to the urban core? What will be the economic impact of new transport systems like urban air mobility? How will transportation evolve? What will be the impact on real estate, transit-oriented development, and architecture?
Visionary airport leaders are embracing new technologies and innovative transportation solutions to create a completely new customer experience at the airport.
Mayor Mike Rawlings of Dallas will speak about being Mayor of the world's first announced uberAIR city and progress since the announcement at last year's Elevate Summit.
Come hear Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, Founder and Executive Chairman of XPRIZE Foundation discuss the future of humanity and aviation, as well as a number of trends that make the Elevate future inevitable.
In a fireside chat with journalist and author Brad Stone, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi discusses Uber’s vision to become a technology platform encompassing all forms of transportation, including on-demand aviation.
Join us for light refreshments after the closing address!
Featured Speakers
Dara Khosrowshahi
CEO
Uber
Dr. Jaiwon Shin
Associate Administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate
NASA
Elaine Chao
Secretary of Transportation United States of America
Dan Elwell
Acting Administrator
Federal Aviation Administration
Eric Garcetti
Mayor
City of Los Angeles
Mike Rawlings
Mayor of Dallas
Jeff Holden
Chief Product Officer
Uber
Eric Allison
Head of Aviation
Uber
Dr. Peter H. Diamandis
Founder and Executive Chairman
XPRIZE Foundation
Dr. Parimal Kopardekar
Senior Technologist for Air Transportation
NASA
Pasquale Romano
President and Chief Executive Officer
ChargePoint
Dr. John Langford
Chairman and CEO
Aurora Flight Sciences, A Boeing Company
Paulo Cesar de Souza e Silva
CEO
Embraer S.A.
Michael Thacker
Executive Vice President, Technology & Innovation
Bell
Kirk Hawkins
CEO
Icon Aircraft
Anna Mracek Dietrich
Consultant
Regulatory Affairs
Michael Ronen
Managing Director
Softbank Investment Advisors
Brad Stone
Author and Journalist Bloomberg News
Platinum Sponsors
Gold Sponsor
Silver Sponsor
Emerging Tech Sponsor
Skysport Design Finalists
Location
Skirball Center
Public Officials and Employees: Please note Uber is a registered lobbyist employer at the US federal, state, and local level. By registering for the 2018 Uber Elevate Summit, you represent you will comply with all applicable ethics rules and regulations in connection with your attendance, including any reporting obligations.
If you are prohibited from accepting Uber hospitality at this event, arrangements can be made to provide you with an invoice. Please reach out to summit2018@uber.com with any questions or to make such arrangements.