Uber uses AT & T to improve the connectivity of urban air taxis and UAVs delivering goods | AT & T

Penrose said that one of the main challenges will be to maintain uniform coverage when there are many visible cell towers. In the field, a mobile phone can determine which tower to use to get the most powerful signal, he said. It is more complicated in the air.

He added that AT & T would explore how to use algorithms to route urban air taxis or drones to certain towers. "How do you say that on this particular path:" This is the set of tricks I want you to use. Even if you see towers, do not rotate to them? " " he said.

Uber urban air taxis should travel between 150 and 200 miles per hour and at a cruise altitude of 1,000 to 2,000 feet above ground level. It's much slower and more ground-based than commercial flights, which run around 500 mph to 35,000 feet. Its cargo drones will operate within 400 feet.

Uber works with several other companies in North Texas. The Bell helicopter manufacturer based in Fort Worth is designing an urban air taxi that can be used for service. Dallas-based developer Hillwood plans to build skyports, stations where people will take off and land in urban air taxis. He began construction of his first building near Frisco Station, a mixed-use development near the Dallas Cowboys headquarters and practice center.