Boeing and Wisk Unveil First Operational Roadmap for Self-Flying Air Taxis

The plan’s aggressive timeframe aims to create a pathway forward by the end of the decade.

Wednesday, September 21, 2022 at 03:44 PM ET

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Operating fleets of self-flying aircraft supervised by a human in the loop is seen by many as critical to successful and profitable scaled operations. [Courtesy: Wisk Aero]

Key Takeaways:

Wisk Aero and Boeing have released a comprehensive "Concept of Operations" report detailing their plan for launching uncrewed, self-flying air taxis, distinguishing Wisk by its reliance on ground-based "multi-vehicle supervisors" from the outset for scalability.
The report outlines a roadmap for integrating these autonomous eVTOLs into the national airspace, proposing new flight rules and urging stakeholder engagement to make urban air mobility safe, affordable, and widely accessible by the end of the decade.
A notable criticism of the report is its failure to adequately address the critical issues of aircraft noise and gaining community acceptance for vertiports, which are considered essential for the successful deployment of urban air mobility services.

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For the first time, California-based electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer Wisk Aero and its major backer Boeing (NYSE: BA) have released a comprehensive concept operations report for their uncrewed, self-flying air taxis.

The 64-page document represents the next step in Wisk’s plan to move ahead of its competitors by launching service with automated air taxis, operated by “multi-vehicle supervisors” (MVS) on the ground. Wisk’s competitors, including Archer Aviation (NYSE: ACHR) and Joby Aviation (NYSE: JOBY), intend to fly passengers initially using on-board pilots, before eventually transitioning to an automated platform. Wisk, Archer, Joby, and others are flight testing full-size prototypes of their eVTOLs. Both Archer and Joby have said they expect to achieve FAA certification in time to enter service in 2024.