07 February, 2017
This is What's Trending Today...
Flying cars may soon become a reality.
The rideshare service Uber has asked an expert from NASA, the American space agency, to help the company develop cars that can fly.
NASA engineer Mark Moore will work on the Uber Elevate project, Bloomberg Technology reported.
The Bloomberg show said the project aims to support other businesses that are developing flying vehicles as well.
Last October, Uber announced plans to use flying vehicles in the future to avoid traffic in and around cities. The company wants to use small, fully electric aircraft that could take off and land like a helicopter.
Uber said its flying vehicles would be much quieter, cost less to operate and produce less pollution than helicopters.
Moore has worked at the space agency for 30 years. His research has dealt mainly with vertical takeoff and landing vehicles – the kind of vehicle Uber now hopes to develop.
Talk of plans for a flying car made Uber and NASA trending topics on social media.
One person in San Francisco wrote on Twitter, "I used to think flying cars was a ridiculous idea. This morning I sat in SF traffic. I changed my mind."
Another person tweeted from Mumbai, India: "Reading about Uber hiring a NASA engineer to build flying cars, while I'm stuck in traffic at the legendary Sakinaka signal. There is hope."
Moore told Bloomberg Technology that he predicts there will be several early models of flying cars – with human pilots – within one to three years.
And that's What's Trending Today.
I'm Ashley Thompson.
VOA News reported this story. Ashley Thompson adapted it for Learning English, with additional materials. George Grow was the editor.
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Words in This Story
vertical - adj. positioned up and down rather than from side to side : going straight up
ridiculous - adj. extremely silly or unreasonable
hire - v. to give work or a job to (someone) in exchange for wages or a salary
legendary - adj. very famous or well-known