UNITED STATES—In 2010, a paper outlining the possibility of electric air crafts that would act as smaller, quieter helicopters was published by an advanced aircraft engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center named Mark Moore. The vehicles would be capable of acting as a faster alternative to commuting.

Moore’s research into “VTOL” or Vertical Takeoff and Landing inspired Google co-founder Larry Page. After reading Moore’s papers, Page reportedly began to finance two Silicon Valley startups, Zee Aero and Kitty Hawk, to develop the technology for VTOL, or flying cars.

Moore is leaving the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, where he has spent the last 30 years, to join Uber Technologies Inc. He is taking on a new role as director of engineering for aviation at the company, working on a flying car plan that has been deemed Uber Elevate.

“I can’t think of another company in a stronger position to be the leader for this new ecosystem and make the urban electric VTOL market real,” Moore said.

Uber’s flying car has not begun construction yet. The company published its own paper last October that explained the radical vision for airborne commutes and identified technical challenges the paper said it wanted to help the new industry solve. Moore reportedly consulted on the paper and was impressed by the company’s vision and potential.

Nikhil Goel, Uber’s head of product for advanced programs, says the company wants to organize the industry to help spur development of flying cars.

“Uber continues to see its role as an accelerant-catalyst to the entire ecosystem, and we are excited to have Mark joining us to work with manufacturers and stakeholders as we continue to explore the use case described in our whitepaper,” Goel wrote in an emailed statement.

Moore acknowledged that there are a great number of obstacles that lie ahead, and they are not just technical issues. He says each flying car company would need to independently negotiate with suppliers to get prices down, and lobby regulators to certify aircrafts and relax air-traffic restrictions. He noted with Uber’s 55 million active riders, it can demonstrate that there is a potential for a massively profitable and safe market. 

“If you don’t have a business case that makes economic sense, than all of this is just a wild tech game and not really a wise investment,” said Moore.

Uber’s vision consists of people taking conventional Ubers from their homes to nearby “vertiports” that dot residential neighborhoods. After arriving at the ports, passengers would ascend into the air and to the vertiport closest to their offices. These air taxis will require ranges between 50 to 100 miles. Moore thinks that the cars can be at least partially recharged while passengers are boarding or exiting the aircraft. He also predicts we’ll see several well-engineered flying cars in the next 1 to 3 years and that there will be human pilots, at least managing the on board technicalities. 

Moore will leave NASA one year before being eligible for retirement and walking away from a significant percentage of his pension and free healthcare for life “to be in the right place at the right time to make this market real,” he said.