Can Electric Air Taxis Reach Widespread Acceptance?

There’s been a lot of hype around electric air taxis lately, including one of Joby Aviation’s aircraft being displayed at Grand Central Station earlier in 2024. Still, for all of the publicity these vehicles have received, the industry has also seen some setbacks. The planned use of air taxis during the Paris Olympics didn’t pan out, for instance, though the Associated Press reported that a similar plan for the Los Angeles Summer Games in 2028 could still, er, take flight.

Writing at The Washington Post, Lori Aratani explored the current state of the electric air taxi industry, which has seen both setbacks and large investments in the last year. Aratani notes that among the reasons for optimism are governmental agencies looking favorably upon this technology and signals from the incoming Trump administration that they’re also supportive of air taxi development.

As the Post‘s reporting notes, there are still logistical hurdles for many industry players to overcome. Roger Connor of the National Air and Space Museum told the Post that “[u]rban air mobility” can be “the hardest to implement” for companies in this space.

Still, there are grounds for optimism. Last week, Joby Aviation announced that construction had completed its initial testing with the FAA, using a flight simulator that conformed to the agency’s standards. The company plans to begin Type Inspection Authorization with a physical aircraft sometime in 2025. That aircraft is currently under construction in California.

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Joby Aviation isn’t the only company with rigorous testing underway; the Post‘s article also chronicles the work competitors Archer Aviation is doing to get their own air taxis ready to be certified and safe to convey passengers. Plenty of visions of the future have featured airborne taxis; we’ll see if the work of companies like these leads to them coming to fruition in the actual future as well.