BOEING has sunk $450million into a flying taxi startup that hopes to whisk its passengers above city skylines by the end of the decade.
The US aerospace giant said Monday that Wisk Aero will use the injection of cash to help develop its pilotless craft.
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Wisk, a joint venture between Boeing and flying car maker Kitty Hawk, hopes to build a fleet of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
Powered by 12 vertical and one horizontal propellers, each vehicle will seat up to two people and be steered by artificial intelligence.
Passengers will hail a cab using an app. The all-electric vehicles will travel up to 62 miles on a single charge and hit a top speed of 110 mph (177 kph).
That’s fast enough to zip across the length of Manhattan in a matter of minutes.
California-based Wisk is one of dozens of eVTOL makers but differs in focusing its efforts on autonomous flight.
“Our view is that is the big strategic advantage of Wisk, going straight to a self-flying aircraft, building those principles in at every level of the design and development,” Boeing’s Chief Strategy Officer Marc Allen told Reuters.
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The decision to leapfrog a generation of piloted eVTOL aircraft being developed by independent startups and some aerospace groups entails a later entry to service than the target date of 2024 envisaged by most competitors.
Boeing declined to give a date for what it terms the sixth-generation Wisk passenger vehicle, but industry sources said the idea was to present it for certification in around 2028.
Boeing said it would be the first autonomous passenger-carrying vehicle to be certified in the United States.
In a statement, Wisk said the $450million investment from Boeing would make it “one of the most well-funded” companies of its type, but gave no further details.
The fundraising follows a spate of billion-dollar SPAC mergers by competitors in a trend that has cooled recently.
Analysts say the timetable for certification remains the key source of uncertainty surrounding the industry, whose debuts include California-based Joby and Archer and European rivals Lilium and Vertical Aerospace .
Boeing owns an undisclosed majority stake in Wisk.
It is not the only aerospace company teaming up with Silicon Valley to share development costs and foster an agile approach to innovation as simultaneous leaps in electric, materials and processing technology bring aviation within reach of startups.
“The kinds of constant demand shifts that will accompany these emerging industries really do require broad collaboration across those in industry who bring different capabilities together,” Allen said in an interview.
Beyond that, the debt-laden U.S. aerospace giant is seen as selectively more willing to co-develop know-how on broad capabilities like autonomy and advanced production processes, rather than controlling all high-end technology in-house.
Asked if there could be other partnerships within Boeing’s core aerospace activities, Allen said: “Wisk is just one great example. I am sure it will not be the only example.”
Boeing’s investment in the company could yield improvements that could be applied across Boeing’s portfolio, he added.
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Inside the new luxury FLYING yacht designed for the air rather than the sea
In other news, personalised smart guns, which can be fired only by verified users, may finally become available to U.S. consumers this year.
Scientists are embarking on a mission to unravel the mystery behind dozens of grisly child mummies buried in an underground tomb in Sicily.
Police have caught an Italian mafia henchman who’d be on the run for 20 years after spotting the fugitive on Google Maps.
And, one of the best-preserved fossils ever found has confirmed that young dinosaurs burst from their shells just like baby birds.
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