Electric air taxis are finally ready for takeoff

A cab ride from Midtown Manhattan to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport today costs about $100, takes between 45 minutes and two hours—traffic depending—and includes up-close views of the soot-covered trash dotting the Van Wyck Expressway.

Paul Sciarra, executive chairman of Joby Aviation, thinks it’s time for an upgrade: A traveler will soon be able to make the same journey in less than 10 minutes, he says, all while enjoying views from more than a thousand feet up in the sky. Eventually, it will cost about the same, too.

Air taxis are closer than ever to becoming a reality thanks to a confluence of new technology, competition, and regulatory developments. Starting this summer, a series of federally sanctioned pilot projects across the U.S. will let Joby and several other companies developing a new breed of all-electric aircraft start carrying cargo, then passengers, in real-world tests. If successful, the trials could open “another axis of transportation” that can bypass physical geography such as mountains and human-created boundaries like traffic, says Sciarra.

The government’s online announcement of the pilot program included a short video clip from Read Entire Article