Wisk Reveals World's First Autonomous 4-Seat Electric Air Taxi
Wisk just revealed the world's first self-flying, four-seat, all-electric air taxi that can also land and take off vertically.
The future of short journeys could be air travel requiring no pilot and with zero emissions if Wisk gets its way. The company's 6th Generation air taxi(Opens in a new window) is designed to "exceed(Opens in a new window)" commercial safety standards and "represents the first-ever candidate for type certification by the FAA of an autonomous eVTOL."
This air taxi uses a set of 12 proprietary propellers and a tilting propulsion design to allow for the vertical takeoff and landing system to function. The cruising speed is 120 knots at an altitude of between 2,500-4,000 feet, and the range is 90 miles with reserves. Up to four passengers with baggage and carry-on luggage can be transported using an autonomous flying system with human oversight.
The lack of a pilot will surely worry some, but Wisk says it has taken a safety-first approach to the design. There's very few moving parts, a fully redundant system, and no single point of failure, which is certainly reassuring. There's also no flammable fuel required, and it doesn't even need any oil.
Wisk is backed by Kitty Hawk, and has a strategic partnership with Boeing, allowing it to take advantage of the company's experience of aircraft design, at scale manufacturing, and just as importantly, certification for aircraft.
The comapny's goal is to create an autonomous air taxi service that costs $3 per passenger, per mile, meaning a trip should never cost more than $270 per seat. Before that can happen, though, it needs to achieve FAA certification.
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