NASA and Uber have signed an agreement to explore putting flying taxis in the skies over US cities. NASA said on Tuesday that it will begin simulations for so-called “urban air mobility” vehicles that also include delivery drones.

The announcement comes as the Uber Elevate summit in Los Angeles brings together tech and transportation leaders to discuss the future of urban aviation. NASA says the goal is to create a rideshare network that will allow residents to hail a small aircraft the same way Uber users can now use an app to call a car.

The space agency says simulations are planned at its research facility at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

This is Uber's second agreement with the space agency. As part of the pact, the ride-hailing company will share data related to its efforts to build flying taxis in 2020 for the development of NASA’s urban air mobility program. “Using data from Uber, NASA will use its research facility at the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) airport to simulate a small passenger carrying aircraft as it flies through DFW airspace during peak scheduled air traffic, and analyse if these operations would trigger traffic collision advisories,” Uber said in a statement.

Uber on Tuesday also released a new prototype for flying taxies at its annual Elevate Summit. In November, the company said it was working with NASA to develop a software which could be used to manage flying taxi routes and would work like ride-hailing services that Uber has popularised on the ground.

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