A full-scale model of the first Uber air taxi was unveiled at Gitex Technology Week in Dubai.
Visitors were given a sneak peek at the seven-tonne Hyundai Uber, which will be able to carry up to four passengers and one pilot once fully operational.
It was only the second time the full-scale aircraft concept was shown to the public.
Measuring 9.4 metres in length and with a 14m wingspan, commercial roll-out of the traffic-busting fleet is expected by 2028.
Hyundai is the first automotive company to join the Uber Elevate initiative, which was launched in 2015 to develop aerial ridesharing at scale.
"The Hyundai Uber is here on show at Gitex with the intention of Etisalat powering it with a 5G network, which is important for this type of autonomous urban transportation," Murat Eldem, director at Etisalat, told The National.
“5G enables high-speed connection, broader bandwidth, low latency, which is important for the real-time decisions of autonomous driving.
"That’s why you will always find the 5G association with autonomous driving."
The Uber Elevate team is working to transform the world through aerial ridesharing to help reduce passenger commute times and relieve congested ground transport.
The vehicle itself can fly 100km on a five-minute battery charge and travel at up to 290kph.
Once operational, passengers can book a ride just as they would an on-ground Uber by setting their pickup and drop-off location before boarding the air taxi.
The model is designed to take off vertically, transition to wing-borne lift in cruise, and then transition back to vertical flight to land.
The Hyundai Uber will be piloted initially, but over time will become autonomous.
Fitted with numerous sensors, cameras and a GPS system, the vehicle will be able to map the flight management based on weather conditions before switching into autopilot mode.
The aircraft will use electric propulsion to power several smaller rotors and propellers around the airframe during the flight.
The size of the rotors will help to reduce noise levels relative to large rotor helicopters with combustion engines, which is very important to cities when it comes to better future mobility options.
Mr Eldem said the large-scale model on show at Gitex was expected to hit the commercial market in 2028, but smaller Uber aerial vehicles could be released in the US and Australia as early as 2023.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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