A Bay Area company is testing new technology that could one day have people flying over the streets instead of driving on them.
San Jose-based Archer Aviation has created an electric air taxi, and the company was out in Oakland Thursday performing test flights.
“This beautiful aircraft is an air taxi that’s under development at the company,” Archer Aviation Chief Strategy Officer Eric Lentell said. “We’re going through kind of the final stages of testing with the FAA to be able to bring it to market.”
The goal is to defeat traffic congestion in cities, while being competitive with Uber Black or Uber Premiere pricing.
“Really focused on kind of 10- to 20-mile routes where it takes about 60 to 90 minutes in a car and we can do in about 10 minutes,” Lentell said.
An air taxi seats four people, plus a pilot. The technology is similar to an electric car but in an aircraft. The company has focused on both conventional and vertical takeoffs and landings.
“The big change, the big step change is distributed electric propulsion,” Lentell said. “With going all electric on an aircraft instead of a typical combustion engine, you can rethink the design of these aircraft.”
