Flying taxis could take to the skies by next year. Here's why the aviation industry is so excited about eVTOLs.
- Flying-taxi companies hope to revolutionize the daily commute for the cost of an Uber.
- Competition led to one lawsuit before it was settled and Archer and Wisk agreed to work together.
- Nature inspires many of the futuristic designs, Frank Stephenson told BI.
Picture the scene: It's rush hour and you're running late for a meeting on the other side of town. If you're in a city with good public transportation, you could pile onto a busy metro train or you could get in a car or taxi and slog through traffic.
In a few years, if everything goes according to plan, you might be able to open an app to hail a non-polluting aircraft and avoid the ground congestion altogether.This is the vision for Archer Aviation, one of several companies building electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft, better known as eVTOLs or flying taxis.It shouldn't cost much more than an Uber, either. Adam Goldstein, the CEO of Archer, previously told Business Insider he expects a seat in its six-passenger Midnight aircraft to cost about $100.An Uber from Manhattan to Newark Airport costs $85 for a 40-minute drive. Archer says its Midnight flying taxi would need 10 minutes for the same journey, which the company plans to make its first commercial service in 2025.BI attended the Dubai Airshow last month, where Goldstein started the sustainability conference with a speech about the company's ambitions."The transportation grid is still stuck in two dimensions. There's lots of trips out there where people are willing to spend 60, 90, or even 120 minutes in a car," he said. "Now we can solve these trips by going to the air."Helicopters are the main alternative today, but they're expensive and many cities have banned their mass use due to noise complaints. Goldstein said that Archer's Midnight is "near silent when flying overhead."Volocopter, a German startup set to bring its flying taxis to Saudi Arabia's planned megacity Neom, hopes to run its first service during next summer's Paris Olympics.Most other eVTOL firms, including Archer, are targeting certification by 2025. Goldstein said Archer wants to start mass operations in 2028, when "hundreds" of flying taxis would operate in one city as Los Angeles transportation officials plan for their use during that year's Olympics.
Why the flying-taxi designs look unique
Frank Stephenson got his start designing cars. After Ford sponsored his design education, he worked for the company in Cologne, Germany. He also designed the Mini Cooper and the Fiat 500 and worked as a design director for Ferrari, Maserati, and McLaren.
His enthusiasm for aircraft was infectious as he spoke to BI at the Dubai Airshow. Midway through a sentence, the Italian Air Force's aerobatics team roaring overhead through plumes of red, white, and green smoke diverted his attention.At first, pivoting to aviation might seem like a curious move, but for Stephenson, it made perfect sense."I think from as far back as I can remember, as a kid even, I was just interested in anything that moved," Stephenson told BI.After leaving McLaren, Stephenson started his own design studio where his first client was Lilium Air Mobility.
These sleek, modern aircraft often appear as if they were plucked from the set of "Blade Runner," but for Stephenson, "everything I design is based on influences from nature."
"There's nothing more intelligent than nature in design," he told BI. "Who the heck says it has to look like an airplace anyways, because what's an airplane? It's a sausage with wings on it."For Lilium, he was first inspired by the sea, because "a fish is theoretically more aerodynamic than a bird.""The engineers were like, 'Oh my gosh, we've never thought about doing it like this before. And it works really well.' So that world opened up to me. It's like the first days of the automobile."United Airlines has ordered $1 billion's worth of Archer's Midnight craft
"Once you can start replacing work-and-going-home trips with this aircraft, it's beyond my wildest imagination how you change where people live and work, and how much you can really impact mobility going forward," Nikhil Goel, Archer's chief commercial officer, told BI.
There's still a lot to get through first. After aviation authorities certify them, eVTOL companies would need to scale up manufacturing. Then comes the infrastructure: building enough vertiports — eVTOL takeoff facilities — for mass use.
"As we increase the utilization and load factor, the aircraft will be at $2 to $3," he added. "And then from there, you add in autonomy, scale manufacturing, our long-term goal is to get about $1."
Self-flying taxis
Not every eVTOL company is prioritizing passenger transportation. AutoFlight, a Chinese startup with offices in Germany and California, is first targeting certification for its cargo eVTOL.
In a press release, Archer said the agreement would help it avoid "hundreds of millions of dollars of spending" on research and development.
'You don't get tired of them — they just look right'
After Lilium, Stephenson also designed eVTOLs for Archer and AutoFlight, which he said is "probably the most effective design so far."
Unlike Archer's Midnight, AutoFlight's Prosperity I doesn't need the propellors to tilt — horizontal rotors take the aircraft up and down, and the ones on the back push it forward."The intention I always had from the beginning was: How simple can you reduce all the elements, and it doesn't look boring, it still looks futuristic?""It ends up looking beautiful because it's so functional when it does," Stephenson told BI. "There's nothing really ugly in nature — something might shock you, but it doesn't look wrong.""The cars and the objects that are designed for efficient functionality tend to last a long time in terms of aesthetics. You don't get tired of them — they just look right.""It's an incredibly interesting field to be in right now," he added. "30 years from now, I might sound stupid. But right now, we're breaking new ground."