晨读养成计划

靠你每天只背几个单词或句子是学不好英文的。

你之所以觉得自己英文不好（说不好或写不好），并不是因为你词汇量不够或语法差，是因为你没有看过别人是怎么写的或听过别人是怎么说的，有输入才有输出。

通过《晨读养成计划》，你可以：

1）养成学习英语的习惯，为自己创造全英环境

2）保持输入，有些内容可以作为写作素材

3）内容导读和生词说明，易于理解吸收

教育、科技、健康、环境……

同样的范畴

让我们每天读点不一样的

长城之外、跨越国界、更开放的观点、原滋原味的全英文

每天早上8点09分见

Flying Taxis May Be Years Away, but the Groundwork Is Accelerating

DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI

Flying cars are just starting to inch(缓慢移动) their way out of science fiction(科幻). But that is not stopping some companies from planning for flying taxi services.

A growing collection of(不断增长的) tech companies, aircraft manufacturers, automakers and investors are betting that fleets of(…的队伍) battery-powered aircraft will give rise to air taxi services, perhaps as soon as the next decade. Some of those taxis, the companies hope, may even use artificial intelligence(人工智能) to fly themselves.

The deal making, technology exploration and perhaps wishful thinking around this new sort of flying transportation — please, the companies ask, don’t call them flying cars — are reminiscent of(令人回忆起) the work done on self-driving cars just a few years ago.

No one can say for certain if these new vehicles will turn out to be a real business. But many companies are already worried about being left behind.

The European aerospace(航空航天) company Airbus said Tuesday that it was making an investment in Blade, an aviation(航空、飞机工业) start-up in New York, and forming a partnership to expand Blade’s helicopter hailing service(直升机呼叫服务) in more cities around the world. Last week, Dara Khosrowshahi, Uber’s chief executive, said he expected the ride-hailing company to start flying passengers on a service called Uber Air in five to 10 years.

In November, Boeing acquired(这里可理解为收购) Aurora Flight Sciences, a company specializing in flight systems for pilotless aircraft, for an undisclosed sum(未公开的金额). Before the acquisition(收购), Aurora had been working with Uber to develop a flying taxi. And Joby Aviation, a start-up in Santa Cruz, Calif., building its own air taxi, said this month that it had raised $100 million in venture funding from a consortium(联盟) of investors including the venture capital arms(风险投资部门) of Intel, Toyota Motor and JetBlue Airways.

“This is the natural progression of the vehicles we make,” said Ben Bridge, head of global business for Airbus Helicopters. “We want a seat at the table and a voice in the conversation that is happening.”

Flying cars even played a bit role in the recently settled legal fight over trade secrets between Uber and Waymo, the self-driving car service spun out of(从…独立出来) Google.

Waymo是一家研发自动驾驶汽车的公司，为Alphabet公司（Google母公司）旗下的子公司。Waymo刚开始是Google于2009年开启的一项自动驾驶汽车计划，之后于2016年12月才由Google独立出来，成为Alphabet公司旗下的子公司。

In court testimony(证词) this month, Travis Kalanick, Uber’s former chief executive, said he had heard that Larry Page — the chief executive of Waymo’s parent company, Alphabet, who has a side project building new types of aircraft — was upset because Uber was “doing their thing” with flying cars.

Whatever you imagine a flying car to be — stop. What these companies envision(预想) is something like a helicopter but much quieter and more affordable. Think of a hobbyist’s drone(无人机), but big enough to fit people. It would, in theory, be welcome in urban environments and affordable to more than well-heeled(富有的) businesspeople. At least, that’s the dream.

Before there can be too much enthusiasm for these flying taxi services, it’s worth noting that self-driving cars have yet to turn into a notable business for anyone, despite about a decade of research at tech giants like Google and billions in investment from Silicon Valley and the auto industry.

Regulators are just starting to agree on rules for large-scale tests of self-driving cars on public roads. How would they deal with flying taxis? The details of the future service are far — very far — from being ironed out(解决).

Still, there are some reasons for the new enthusiasm. Battery improvements and the wide use of drones have spawned(引发) technological breakthroughs. The taxis would take off and land vertically like a helicopter, so they’d take up less room. Because they would be battery-powered, they would be more environmentally friendly.

For now, Airbus executives hope to gain from Blade’s experience with an app that allows customers to reserve a seat on a helicopter. Airbus is expected to invest up to $15 million in Blade, which would represent about a 10 percent stake in the company, according to a person who is familiar with the transaction but not permitted to discuss the investment details publicly.

Both companies see helicopters as an intermediate step until a new type of aircraft and taxi service hits the market. Rob Wiesenthal, Blade’s chief executive, said a quieter and less expensive alternative to helicopters “opens up a whole new world.”

Airbus said it was preparing for a test flight by year-end for its CityAirbus aircraft, which carries up to four passengers and can reach a cruising(平稳的) speed of about 75 miles per hour. It plans to deploy(部署) the CityAirbus in 2023.

Uber has said it expects to begin testing of its urban air taxis in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Los Angeles and Dubai in 2020. The company has landed exclusive deals(独家交易) for vertical takeoff and landing(垂直起降) spots with real estate companies, including in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Uber declared its interest with its Uber Elevate initiative in 2016, forecasting a future when it could offer 15-minute Uber Air rides from San Francisco to San Jose for $20. The 50-mile ride with Uber Pool, its car-pooling option, usually takes about two hours in rush-hour traffic and costs $83.

It did not put a date on that future.

In a concept video for Uber Elevate, a woman opens the Uber app, which gives her a choice of taking a ride with Uber Pool, UberX or Uber Air. She enters a nearby building and rides the elevator to the top floor, where she boards an air taxi in Uber Skyport.

Uber is also establishing performance guidelines for its flying taxis, including asking that the new aircraft make only one-quarter of the noise of a small four-seat helicopter. Uber also has supplier deals in place with five manufacturers, including Textron’s Bell Helicopter.

“We believe the best way to get this idea off the ground(起步) is to partner with world-class companies and stakeholders that have a diverse set of specializations,” an Uber spokesman, Matt Wing, said in a statement.

Daniel Wiegand, a co-founder and the chief executive of the German air taxi company Lilium, said investors considered him totally crazy when he pitched(力荐) the company in 2015.

“It has completely changed,” Mr. Wiegand said. Like many of his competitors, he dismisses(摒弃) the phrase “flying cars” because other companies are working on cars that fly as well as drive on the road. In September, Lilium announced that it had raised $90 million from investors, including the Chinese internet giant Tencent.

And then there is Google — or, to be more specific, Mr. Page, Google’s co-founder and Alphabet’s chief executive. He has invested part of his personal wealth in Kitty Hawk, a start-up that has demonstrated a personal aircraft that flies using propellers(螺旋桨) over water. A Kitty Hawk division called Zee Aero is also reportedly working on an air taxi concept aircraft.

Mr. Kalanick said he told Mr. Page that he believed a flying service “sounds pretty cool,” even though Uber wasn’t building one. But once the aircraft are available, he said, “I will make sure that our 50 million or so customers at the time can push a button and get a flying car.”