Uber CEO: Flying taxis will be a real business in 5-10 years

Uber is looking to spread from the roads to the skies.

This week Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi recommitted to the company's goal of offering flying taxis as a transportation option -- and not in the distant future but in the next five to 10 years.

At a Tokyo investor forum Tuesday, Khosrowshahi said he saw flying cars as a viable option for Uber users to get around cities and nearby locations, according to Reuters.

Instead of on roads, UberAir would fly vehicles at low altitudes as part of a vertical take off and landing (VTOL) network of small, electric planes flying short distances. This is something the company has talked about since 2016, with goals to demo flights in Los Angeles by 2020.

Uber published a white paper on the aircraft system at the end of last year, stoking the interest of many, including Bell Helicopter and a host of flying-car startups.

Other flying taxi programs, usually involving electric aircraft are in development, but as Uber points out there's plenty of issues standing in the way of you hailing a taxi in the sky. To name a few: battery technology, regulation, high costs, noise, and lacking infrastructure for pick-up and drop-off via planes.

Chinese competitor Ehang has a passenger drone operating test flights this month -- even if it can only carry two people at a time. Another startup, SureFly, was supposed to mark an important test flight at CES in January, but bad weather grounded the flying taxi.

What seems clear: A lot of factors still need to line up for the concept of flying taxis to become viable in places like the U.S., but with so much interest and development, it's looking more and more likely.