FAA makes plans for arrival of flying taxis by 2028

Well, it seems like the flying cars are finally getting closer and along with them are a new breed of flying taxis that could make helicopter-like travel in and around big cities much cheaper. Today the FAA has published a plan for the potential rollout of such flying taxis by 2028.

In a document published on Tuesday, the Federal Aviation Administration outlined the steps that it and others need to take to usher in a competitive air taxi market in at least one location five years from now. The vehicles look like small airplanes or helicopters and can take off and land vertically, allowing them to operate from the middle of cities, whisking people to airports or vacation destinations like the Hamptons in New York or Cape Cod in Massachusetts.

The F.A.A.’s plan is notable because it reflects confidence that the technology is only a few years away, and because it comes from the agency that will oversee certification of the aircraft as well as the rules that pilots and companies must follow.

“These things will be coming on the scene, and our job is to try and be ahead of the curve,” said Paul Fontaine, an assistant F.A.A. administrator who oversees the modernization of the air transportation system.

The report identifies two companies as being the farthest along toward FAA certification of an actual aircraft. Joby Aviation just announced its first “production prototype” last month. But they have a lot more than that going on. The President of Toyota North America has joined their board and Toyota is their largest external stockholder. Having one of the biggest car companies on the planet behind you probably means this is going to happen.

The other company mentioned in the report is Archer Aviation. Archer is just finishing the building of its own “Midnight” prototype vehichle and has partnered with Stellantis and with United. So, again, there is big money behind these small companies.

These seem to be the leaders but there are some other companies mentioned as well including Lillium

In the short term the plan is for these to fly people between big cities and airports, a service that is already available now using helicopters. But the idea is that as the price of these drop, they could be used more broadly for all sorts of taxi service where a short hop through the air is quicker than a long, slow trip on the ground.

As you can see from the videos above, some of these companies are hoping to have vehicles in service in as little as two years. But that will be dependent on the FAA.

The aircraft are still under development by various companies and can carry only a handful of passengers. They also contain an array of new technologies and systems, many of which will have to be individually certified to meet the F.A.A.’s standards.

“With a lot of new aircraft technology, you bring on one very novel thing and you work your way through that,” said Pat Anderson, a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a co-founder of VerdeGo Aero, a hybrid air taxi company. “In these vehicles, we’re trying to bring many, many things forward, all at once.”

The reality is that we probably won’t see these flying customers prior to 2028 and even that date isn’t guaranteed. Still, five years isn’t very far away and once the FAA gets in the swing of approving these mostly electric flying vehicles we could see a lot of them taking off all at once.

None of these are targeting a market for private sales as the cost of the vehicles will probably be fairly high. But the FAA did just certify the airworthiness of a flying car.

For the first time, a fully electric flying car has secured a certificate of “airworthiness” from the FAA — putting its maker one step closer to its goal of selling the $300,000 flying car in the US…

California-based Alef Aeronautics has now secured a special airworthiness certification from the FAA, in the experimental category, for its Armada Model Zero, a fully electric flying car that takes off and lands vertically.

This certification doesn’t give Alef permission to fly the Armada wherever and whenever it wants, but it does give the company more flexibility for flights.

I don’t see any test flight videos of the actual car out there, just visualizations. Maybe I missed it. Anyway, this particular flying car is probably still more than 5 years away.