Flying Taxis Await The Calls

Airbus’ multicopter demonstrator made its first flight in May 2019 at Donauworth, Germany. The 4,850-lb. unmanned aircraft has eight fixed-pitch propellers in four ducts, driven by eight 100-kW electric motors powered by a 110 kWh battery. CityAirbus is designed to fly for 15 min. at speeds up to 75 mph.

Beta Technologies is flight-testing the lift-plus-cruise Alia-250, initially for the organ transport mission with funding from United Therapeutics. Designed to carry six passengers or 200 ft.³ of cargo, the 6,000-lb. eVTOL aircraft has four lift rotors, a 50-ft.-span wing and a pusher propeller.

China’s EHang is the first eVTOL aircraft manufacturer to begin trial commercial operations, using its multicopter 216. The 1,320-lb. autonomous air taxi has 16 rotors on eight arms and is designed to carry two passengers 22 mi. at 80 mph. Ehang has unveiled an unmanned logistics version, the 216L.

Joby Aviation is aiming for FAA Part 23 certification of its 200-mph, 150-mi.-range tiltprop S4 by the end of 2023. The 4,800-lb., five-seat aircraft has six tilting propellers, four on the 38-ft.-span wing and two on the V-tail, powered by batteries in the wing and nacelles. Aviation Week had the opportunity to sample the flight characteristics of the Joby air taxi in a company demonstration simulator.

Kitty Hawk is flight-testing the Heaviside high-performance single-seat personal eVTOL aircraft. With six tilting propellers on the forward-swept wing and two on the canard foreplane, the aircraft has flown 100 mi. on a single charge and demonstrated a speed of 180 mph in tests.

Germany’s Lilium is aiming to begin regional air mobility services in 2025 with the five-seat Lilium Jet. With 36 tilting ducted fans on the wing and foreplane, the piloted eVTOL aircraft is being designed to fly for up to 1 hr. at speeds up to 185 mph. A full-scale demonstrator flew in May 2019.

A Japanese startup plans to begin commercial services with a two-seat eVTOL aircraft in 2023. SkyDrive flew a single-seat multicopter prototype, the SD-03, in August, having conducted manned flight tests of a demonstrator, the SD-02, beginning in December 2019.

After flying two unmanned demonstrators, the ducted-rotor proof of concept in 2018 and multicopter Seraph in 2019, UK startup Vertical Aerospace has revealed plans to bring the five-seat VA-1X to market by 2024. The 150-mph, 100-mi.-range eVTOL aircraft as four tilting propellers and four stop/stow lift rotors.

German startup Volocopter plans to certify the VoloCity, a two-seat multicopter eVTOL aircraft with 18 propellers, by the end of 2022. The 1,980-lb. aircraft is designed to fly 22-mi. at up to 68 mph, piloted initially but eventually autonomously.

Wisk, a joint venture between Kitty Hawk and Boeing, plans to begin trial commercial operations this year in New Zealand with its two-seat, self-piloted Cora. The lift-plus-cruise eVTOL aircraft has 12 lift fans on booms on the 36-ft.-span wing and a pusher propeller to provide a range of about 25 mi. at 100 mph.