NASA, Boeing’s Wisk Aero Make Self-Flying Aircraft Breakthrough

Space agency and electric air taxi developer simulate simultaneous management of multiple uncrewed aircraft by a single person.

Jack Daleo

Wednesday, July 15, 2026 at 11:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Zach Vasile

Wisk Aero’s four-seat Generation 6 is one of the few electric air taxi models that is expected to be autonomous at launch. [Credit: Wisk Aero]

Key Takeaways:

Wisk Aero, Boeing's eVTOL unit, successfully simulated one ground-based supervisor managing three uncrewed air taxis simultaneously alongside regular air traffic, a crucial step for scaling autonomous operations.
Conducted under a NASA Space Act agreement, this simulation aims to develop essential standards for airspace integration, safety, and air traffic control communications for autonomous aircraft.
The testing explores Wisk's proposed "Automated Flight Rules" (AFR) and will provide data to inform future FAA regulations, which currently restrict flying multiple uncrewed aircraft.
Wisk plans to validate this supervisory model with actual flights using its autonomous Generation 6 eVTOLs, aiming for eventual passenger-carrying operations through an FAA pilot program.

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Boeing’s eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) air taxi unit Wisk Aero believes it has made a breakthrough in testing that it is conducting with NASA under a five-year Space Act agreement.

Wisk said Wednesday that it simulated the simultaneous orchestration of three uncrewed aircraft, alongside regular air traffic, by a single ground-based supervisor. For autonomous models like Wisk’s Generation 6 air taxi, the ability for one person to remotely oversee multiple aircraft is considered the unlock for operations at scale.