In a plot twist that sounds suspiciously like Act One of a science fiction movie, the Federal Aviation Administration has granted its first ever test flight approval for an electric air taxi in the busy skies of the San Francisco Bay Area. The lucky recipient of this golden ticket is Joby Aviation, a company that seems determined to turn every childhood dream of commuting by spaceship into mildly turbulent reality.
Joby’s aircraft, which looks very much like a giant mechanical insect with six rotors, is fully electric, capable of vertical takeoff and landing, and allegedly much quieter than a helicopter, which is good news for anyone who enjoys uninterrupted small talk on their patio. The company is testing these futuristic taxis at the NASA Ames Research Center, presumably swapping launch pads for runways and pilots for well-dressed engineers who definitely use the word “aerodynamics” in casual conversation.
The FAA’s nod of approval means that Joby can now test its aircraft in actual city airspace, rather than the relative safety of remote fields where the only collision threat is an angry goose. The flights are uncrewed for now, which is bureaucrat-speak for “we’re not putting anyone inside this contraption until we’re absolutely sure it won’t enthusiastically plummet to Earth.”
California, where the concept of commuting has long been a spiritual trial, will now be the testing ground for something that could either revolutionize urban transportation or give rise to airborne gridlock that is only slightly more glamorous than the current kind. The company maintains that their eVTOL (that’s electric Vertical TakeOff and Landing, because everything needs a space-age acronym) will eventually taxi passengers across cities at speeds of up to 200 mph, make less noise than your neighbor’s lawn mower, and dramatically reduce carbon emissions without reducing your bank balance with quite the same enthusiasm as helicopter rides do.
Of course, bringing flying taxis into the mainstream involves more than just getting them to fly. Navigating regulatory frameworks, air traffic integration, and persuading the general public to enter a floating electric pod takes considerable finesse or at least some very convincing marketing videos.
Still, the FAA’s green light is a meaningful step into the great unknown which, in this case, begins somewhere over Palo Alto and ends with someone leaning out an office window wondering why a flying Prius just buzzed their latte.
Because nothing says progress like replacing traffic jams with altitude.