US tech companies are hoping soon to gain clearance for flying taxis that make short commercial hops like Manhattan to LaGuardia Airport. Eyeing defense dollars, they’re also equipping air taxies for the battlefield.
Air taxis have wings and propellers, allowing them to take off and land like a helicopter and fly like an airplane. You can’t yet hail a flying taxi anywhere in the US, though those futuristic flights could be coming in the next couple of years.
Pentagon leaders have shifted their focus to the tech industry, arguing that traditional defense contractors can’t deliver new weapons fast or cheaply enough to meet today’s fast-changing global threats. The Pentagon has pledged to pour billions of dollars into new technology and has issued requests for information on hybrid, autonomous air taxis, also known as vertical takeoff and landing vehicles, or VTOLs.
Flying-taxi makers including Archer Aviation, Joby Aviation, and Beta Technologies say that gas-electric hybrid vehicles reminiscent of “The Jetsons” could carry military cargo more cheaply and quietly than helicopters. Some of the designs under development for the battlefield incorporate autonomous technology that could detect and avoid threats. The aircraft could be used for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, or moving supplies and equipment, these companies say.
American air-taxi makers are racing to develop cutting-edge technology as Chinese companies like EHang do the same. The VTOL industry is still young, and China hasn’t yet cornered the air-taxi market as it has for smaller, aerial combat drones.
“When we can fundamentally go further and faster than a helicopter, then we have a tool that’s more powerful than what the Chinese are going to bring to the fight,” said Beta’s CEO, Kyle Clark.
Commercial air-taxi designs are typically electric. Swapping the electric battery for a hybrid engine will help the aircraft carry more weight and travel farther, a key consideration for the Pentagon, executives from Joby and Beta told Business Insider.
Beta Technologies
Archer, Joby, and Beta are all developing military VTOLs that can fly autonomously. In Beta’s battlefield version, a human must plug in destination coordinates for the aircraft, and artificial intelligence can help it navigate to the destination, said Clark. Configuring the aircraft to operate without a pilot makes it lighter than a commercial air taxi, since it doesn’t require seats or the safety and avionics systems that are necessary when transporting people, Clark added.
Clinching coveted contracts from the Pentagon would add air-taxi manufacturers to a growing list of dual-use companies that sell to commercial clients as well as to the government. Joby is collaborating with traditional defense firm L3Harris on a military VTOL and test-flew a prototype in November. Archer is developing one with Anduril Industries for the US, according to Archer’s CEO, Adam Goldstein. Anduril is also developing a military VTOL called Omen in a joint venture with Emirati defense giant Edge Group.
Permission to fly
One of the air-taxi makers’ biggest hurdles to commercial adoption is securing Federal Aviation Administration certification, though the Trump administration is attempting to make it easier. In September, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced an FAA program that permits VTOL companies to test-fly piloted and unmanned aircraft before receiving federal certification.
Joby is leading the pack in the certification race, having cleared four of the five stages for commercial clearance. Archer and Joby hope to fly commercially as early as 2026.
For defense adoption in the US, the companies would need the Defense Department to deem their VTOLs ready to fly, Goldstein said.
Taylor Rains contributed to this story.
