Uber will add Blade’s helicopters to its platform as early as 2026
Uber users living near New York City or Southern Europe may have a new travel option to pick from in 2026: helicopters.
Electric air taxi startup Joby Aviation announced Wednesday that Blade Air Mobility helicopters will be on the Uber app starting “as soon as next year.” While Joby is not saying specifically where the Blade helicopters will be available to start, the company told TechCrunch they will likely pop up on the “most popular routes” like to and from airports.
The news comes just one month after Joby acquired Blade’s passenger business for as much as $125 million. (Blade’s medical division, which helps move live organs, remained a separate company.)
Uber and Joby are billing this as a step towards eventually launching Joby’s air taxis on the ride-hail network. But that’s still a ways away. Joby plans to launch its first commercial service in 2026 in Dubai, with other markets — including in the U.S. — set to follow after.
All three companies involved in the announcement have existing relationships.
Blade was acquired by Joby last month, and its helicopters have actually been on Uber’s platform before, although only in limited promotional offerings.
Joby, meanwhile, acquired Uber’s “Elevate” air taxi division in 2020, which gave the startup a boost in its plans to build electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles. That helped Joby push to the lead of what was a large pack of eVTOL startups. The startup went public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company in 2021, and has raised hundreds of millions of dollars since, with backing from big companies like Toyota. Uber currently owns around 2.5% of Joby.
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Joby has survived, but the same can’t be said for some of its competitors. Companies like Germany’s Volocopter and Lillium have gone out of business, while Hyundai-owned Supernal is going through its own struggles right now, having recently paused its aircraft program.
Sean O’Kane is a reporter who has spent a decade covering the rapidly-evolving business and technology of the transportation industry, including Tesla and the many startups chasing Elon Musk. Most recently, he was a reporter at Bloomberg News where he helped break stories about some of the most notorious EV SPAC flops. He previously worked at The Verge, where he also covered consumer technology, hosted many short- and long-form videos, performed product and editorial photography, and once nearly passed out in a Red Bull Air Race plane.
You can contact or verify outreach from Sean by emailing sean.okane@techcrunch.com or via encrypted message at okane.01 on Signal.
