Last month Uber and Hyundai unveiled a flying electric car that will become the cornerstone of the upcoming Uber Air fleet.
The ride sharing service also announced that Australia would be getting e-bikes, and now we know when and where.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2020/01/uber-air-hyundai-australia/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/hyundai-uber-410×231.jpg” title=”Uber And Hyundai Created A Flying Electric Taxi (That Kinda Looks Like A 1940s Bomber)” excerpt=”Last year Uber announced that Melbourne would be the first Australian city to to get the company’s flying ride sharing service – Uber Air. We now know that the first launch partner is Hyundai, which has a full scale concept vehicle on display at CES. We haven’t laid our eyes on it just yet, but the renders sure have a 1940s retrofuturism vibe.”]
Uber first made the announcement of its plan to bring its Uber Jump program Down Under at CES in January. At this stage, the company is only bringing its bikes. In multiple cities around the world including Los Angeles and Wellington, Uber has also rolled out e-scooters.
The e-bikes were said to be on a boat to Australia at the time and all we knew was that they would roll out in several cities soon. Now we know that Melbourne will be the first, though its understood that Brisbane had also bid for tenders.
While other e-bike services already exist in Australia, they are yet to take off in any significant way. But considering this is Uber and it is throwing a lot of money at this roll out, perhaps this time it will work.
Uber has stated that the bikes are heavy and expensive, therefore it’s in the company’s best interest to look after them and ensure they don’t litter the streets.
“They’re all GPS-tracked, there are sensors in the bikes as well to identify any mechanical issues… and they all have swappable batteries. Throughout the day we can have mechanics come out and swap those batteries over,” Uber Australia and New Zealand spokesperson Lucas Groeneveld said at a media briefing.
While it’s unclear how much a ride will cost in Australia, we do know that the bikes have three gears and a top speed of 32km/h. It has also been announced that Uber Jump will launch in Melbourne in March 2020, with other cities to follow later in the year.
Uber’s e-bikes will be available in the regular Uber app, as well as a dedicated Jump app. One it’s available you can book a bike via these steps:
- Tap the mode switch on the home screen to switch the app view to bikes
- You’ll see the available JUMP bikes around you, and can reserve a bike
- Using the QR code in the app, unlock the bike.
- Once you’re finished riding, you can lock the bike using the built in cable lock to any public rack in the bike zone shown on the app’s map