Flying Air Taxis Cleared for Approach as Urban Mobility Eyes the Skies of 2024

Funny how with regular cars we call it “ridesharing” whereas up in the sky the word “taxi” still describes new copter-like vehicles meant to take for-hire mobility into the clouds.

Advanced air mobility (AAM) company Wisk Aero, a joint venture formed in 2019 between Boeing and Kitty Hawk Corporation, announced Monday (Jan. 24) that Boeing is investing an additional $450 million into its electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) concept.

In a press release, Boeing Chief Strategy Officer Marc Allen said, “With this investment, we are reconfirming our belief in Wisk’s business and the importance of their work in pioneering all-electric, AI-driven, autonomous capability for the aerospace industry. Autonomy is the key to unlocking scale across all AAM applications, from passenger to cargo and beyond. That’s why straight-to-autonomy is a core first principle.”

A key backer of Kitty Hawk Corporation is Google Co-Founder Larry Page, who reportedly owns (and flies around in) three of the company’s eVOTL creations.

Saying in the release its sixth generation eVTOL aircraft is “a first-ever candidate for the certification of an autonomous, all-electric, passenger-carrying aircraft in the U.S.,” Wisk Aero is one of a handful of companies pushing to make airborne ride-hailing the next big thing in connected mobility.

As Wisk Aero news hit the wires Monday, so did Joby Aviation, generating headlines with reports that its S4 eVTOL reached a speed of 205 mph and flew 155 miles on a single charge, both new records for the company’s all-electric flying taxi.

Joby announced in a press release Jan. 6 that it “received FAA Special Airworthiness Certification and US Air Force Airworthiness Approval for a second pre-production prototype aircraft in December 2021.”

The company said in the release “the second aircraft will significantly accelerate Joby’s capacity for flight testing in 2022, further supporting the company’s ambition to certify its aircraft with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in time to launch commercial operations in 2024. The aircraft is expected to begin flying later this month and will be put into service as part of Joby’s Agility Prime contract with the U.S. Air Force.”

Joby plans to have passenger service up-and-running by 2024.

See also: Air Taxi Service Joby Goes Public in SPAC Deal

Bringing its tech to America, Germany’s Volocopter announced in the third quarter of 2021 that it is partnering with Urban Movement Labs (UML) in Los Angeles to study air mobility options for congested LA.

Read more: Volocopter Partners with Urban Movement Labs

As PYMNTS reported, “A subcategory of advanced air mobility, urban air mobility aims to understand how alternate aircrafts traverse throughout urban areas. Volocopter is in the process of creating its own electric vertical take-off and landing aircrafts, with an eventual goal of 100% electric commercial transportation of people and merchandise.”

All these flying cabs will need cab stands.

News site Interesting Engineering also reported Monday that U.K.-based startup Urban-Air Port (UAP) “says it is one step closer to providing the ‘essential infrastructure’ required ‘to help enable mass adoption of eVTOL aircraft.’”

Called “vertiports,” their concept is one of small-footprint, high-volume, in-town heliports.

The story added that with “a new investment from Supernal, which was previously the Urban Air Mobility Division of Hyundai Motor Group … [t]he funds will help [UAP] build 200 vertiport sites in 65 cities across the globe over the next five years.”