Boeing backed Wisk Aero, a 2019 startup looking to offer an electric air-taxi service in congested cities, has now debuted the sixth generation of its remote-piloted air-taxi. The company touts the pilotless yellow, all electric plug-in air-vehicles as a green answer to city traffic.
The company is now moving to seek FAA permission to carry passengers as a commercial air-taxi service.
Wisk envisions customers one day being able to summon one of their vehicles to a roof-top “vertiport,” or vertical airport, using an app similar to Uber or Lyft. There, their vehicle will come in and land vertically, pick up passengers, and then fly to their chosen destination, at another roof-top vertiport, flying autonomously with another pilot monitoring remotely and ready to take the controls if anything goes amiss. By eliminating the pilot on board, the vehicle can carry an extra passenger, or more cargo.
The company’s goal is to have the service operational and carrying passengers within the next five years.
According to Wisk, its new air-taxi will fly at an altitude of 2,500 to 4,000 feet at a speed of roughly 138 miles per hour, for a range of up to 90 miles, with reserves.
For now the company will need to acquire the three types of certifications the FAA requires to run a commercial service: the “type” certification confirming the vehicle meets all FAA design and safety standards, the “production” certification which confers the ability to manufacture the aircraft, and finally the “air” certification, which allows the company to use its vehicle to offer a commercial service.
Analysts note another all-electric plane just made its first 8 minute test flight successfully. In a statement, startup Eviation said the nine-passenger plane, named Alice, would be “ushering in a new era of aviation.”
Meanwhile Air Canada has announced that it had ordered 30 plug-in airplanes from Heart Aerospace, a Swedish electric aircraft manufacturing startup. Heart Aerospace’s planes are expected to have a range of just 124 to 248 miles per charge. It is unclear how long they will have to charge to reach full capacity.
Photo courtesy Wisk Aero
