优步(Uber)聘请了美国国家航空航天局(NASA)一名前工程师来协助研究飞行汽车。

　　After more than 30 years at the US space agency, Mark Moore is joining Uber’s Elevate division as its director of engineering for aviation.

　　在为NASA服务30多年后，马克?摩尔(Mark Moore)加入优步的“提升”(Elevate)部门，担任飞行工程技术总监。

　　The ride-hailing company first signalled its interest in short-range “vertical take-off and landing” (VTOL) technology in October, when it published a white paper discussing the potential for “on-demand aviation” to transform the daily commute.

　　去年10月，这家叫车服务公司首次表现出对于短程“垂直起降”(VTOL)技术的兴趣，当时该公司发表一份白皮书，讨论利用“按需航空服务”转变日常通勤模式的可能性。

　　Mr Moore’s research has explored how advances in robotics, autonomous systems and electric propulsion can facilitate new kinds of small aircraft.

　　摩尔的研究探索了机器人技术、自控系统及电气推进方面的进步如何能够带来新型小型飞行器。

　　In his LinkedIn profile, Mr Moore said his research into unmanned aerial systems and personal air vehicles had the potential to “facilitate a change in aviation that within the next 20 years could be quite breathtaking in terms of impact and market cap”. In a research paper published while at Nasa, he explained: “A zero emission, highly efficient, highly reliable, ultra-low noise VTOL capability would be a game changer compared with existing close proximity flight capabilities, for both unmanned and manned applications.”

　　摩尔在自己的领英(LinkedIn)简介中写道，他对无人空中系统和个人飞行器的研究可能“带来航空技术的转变，这种转变有望在未来20年产生十分巨大的影响力和市场价值”。在一篇他任职NASA期间发表的论文中，他解释说：“与现有的短距离飞行能力（无论是无人还是载人飞行器）相比，零排放、高效率、高可靠性、极低噪声的垂直起降能力将成为游戏规则的颠覆者。”

　　Such a disruptive approach would naturally appeal to Uber, which has already brought sweeping changes to the taxi industry and is credited by some with accelerating a decline in car ownership. Uber is already investing in self-driving cars, striking partnerships with Volvo and Daimler, as well as autonomous trucks through last year’s acquisition of Otto.

　　这种颠覆性路径对优步具有天然吸引力，它不仅已经给出租车行业带来全面变化，还被有些人认为促使汽车保有量加速下降。优步已投资于自动驾驶汽车，并与沃尔沃(Volvo)和戴姆勒(Daimler)建立合作关系，去年还通过收购奥托(Otto)投资自动驾驶卡车领域。

　　Uber in its white paper last year proposed taking that work to another level, envisioning a system of “vertiports” and “vertistops” for transport between suburbs and cities and eventually within cities themselves.

　　在去年发布的白皮书中，优步提出要将这方面的工作提升至另一高度，展望了在郊区与城市间、最终在市内建立由“垂直起降机场”和“垂直起降站点”构成的交通运输系统。

　　“On-demand aviation has the potential to radically improve urban mobility, giving people back time lost in their daily commutes,” it wrote. “Uber is close to the commute pain that citizens in cities around the world feel. We view helping to solve this problem as core to our mission and our commitment to our rider base. Just as skyscrapers allowed cities to use limited land more efficiently, urban air transportation will use three-dimensional airspace to alleviate transportation congestion on the ground.”

　　“按需航空服务有可能从根本上改善城市的机动性，节省人们浪费在日常通勤上的时间，”白皮书写道。“优步深知世界各地城市居民的通勤痛苦。我们将协助解决这一问题视为我们使命和对乘客承诺的核心。正如摩天大楼可让城市以更高效率利用有限的土地，城市空中交通系统将利用三维空域缓解地面上的交通拥堵。”

　　Despite this Jetsons-like future vision, many technological hurdles are yet to be overcome, ranging from power requirements and noise to finding safe places for the flying cars to land.

　　虽然优步描绘了类似《杰森一家》(The Jetsons)的未来愿景，但是从动力需求、噪声到为飞行汽车寻找安全着陆场所，仍有许多技术障碍有待克服。