The North Carolina Department of Transportation’s (NCDOT) Division of Aviation and Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) are joining forces to study a first-of-its-kind testbed for autonomous, electric, and vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft.
The state transportation departments on Tuesday announced a partnership to create the nation’s first “interstate in the sky” for advanced air mobility (AAM) aircraft, including uncrewed drones and electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis. The proposed corridor—which would link Charlotte, North Carolina, and Atlanta—is intended to serve as a “real-world testbed” for the technology and could one day bring commercial AAM passenger and cargo operations to the Southeast.
“This corridor is a launchpad for innovation,” Nick Short, director of NCDOT’s Division of Aviation, said in remarks accompanying the announcement. “It will transform how we connect people, move critical freight, and strengthen links between our communities—all while advancing smarter, cleaner, and more sustainable transportation systems.”
The idea of a dedicated AAM or uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) corridor is not new.
The FAA in 2022, for example, greenlit the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance’s (NUAIR) 50-mile drone testing corridor in New York. That same year, NUAIR began working with Canada’s VPorts—a developer of vertiports, or electrified takeoff and landing hubs—to create a corridor for eVTOL aircraft between Syracuse, New York, and Quebec, Canada.
Defense Department officials in 2023 approved another UAS and AAM corridor planned between New Jersey and Delaware, though its developers have yet to announce it is online. The state of Michigan, meanwhile, in July awarded $1 million to the University of Michigan to build a 40-mile AAM corridor between its Ann Arbor campus and Detroit.
The NCDOT and GDOT are also looking to get in on the action. North Carolina in 2020 hosted the country’s first autonomous eVTOL demonstration, flying EHang’s EH216-S in front of then-Governor Roy Cooper. In June, it announced the inaugural recipients of the state’s $1 million AAM planning grants, which Short described as “part of the groundwork that will help communities plan and prepare for the opportunities this technology brings.”
Georgia, meanwhile, is one of many states with an AAM working group and future operational blueprint. In 2023, it installed charging stations from electric aircraft developer Beta Technologies at Augusta Regional Airport (KAGS).
The proposed Charlotte-Atlanta AAM corridor would represent an escalation of those efforts. The two states will coordinate flight paths and deploy “advanced navigation systems” to show the technology’s “potential to reduce congestion, improve travel times and support regional economic growth,” NCDOT said in its partnership announcement.
The partners are also coordinating with officials in neighboring South Carolina about the possibility of creating a tristate network. They will look at the potential for adding general aviation airports and “key urban centers,” such as Greenville, South Carolina, to the testbed.
The Southeast corridor could have future operational uses beyond the AAM sandbox exercises.
Early eVTOL air taxi designs max out at about 150 sm in range, with most designed for short-hop missions due to the weight and energy limitations of electric batteries. That would place the approximately 200 nm trip between Charlotte and Atlanta just out of range. But middle-mile drones or eVTOL cargo aircraft—such as Elroy Air’s Chaparral, which has a range of 300 sm—would appear to be a natural fit.
The FAA in July released certification guidance and airworthiness criteria for powered-lift aircraft, including eVTOL designs. The regulator has also published final operational and pilot training requirements for powered-lift models to enable their safe operation alongside traditional aircraft. They apply helicopter and airplane rules depending on the operation since eVTOL models share features of both aircraft.
NASA researchers are working with eVTOL developers to simulate the integration of electric air taxis at major airports such as Dallas-Fort Worth International (KDFW) and Los Angeles International (KLAX). The simulations are just a small component of the space agency’s AAM Mission, which studies eVTOL traffic management, safety, ride quality, noise, and a host of other topics.
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