The FAA just let a pilotless cargo plane fly out of a working airport
The FAA just let a pilotless cargo plane fly out of a working airport

An aircraft with nobody on board flew itself out of a working Louisiana airport last week. It carried spare parts, medical supplies and cans of water. Its route took it over people’s houses. Elroy Air said on Wednesday it had completed the first uncrew…

Larry Page’s flying car company Pivotal loses its CEO

The company told TechCrunch he is “pursuing new endeavors.”

Dubai VDX becomes world’s first purpose-built eVTOL vertiport
Dubai VDX becomes world’s first purpose-built eVTOL vertiport

The developers behind the new Dubai VDX project are calling it the world’s first purpose-built commercial vertiport – and after receiving a green light from regulators the vertiport is ready to get started.

Archer makes wild deal with Boeing swapping eVTOL startups for equity
Archer makes wild deal with Boeing swapping eVTOL startups for equity

Archer Aviation is buying three of Boeing’s aerospace subsidiaries: autonomous air-taxi developer Wisk Aero, military drone maker Insitu, and airspace-software firm SkyGrid. The deal also hands Boeing a stake in Archer.
Investors loved it. Archer (ACHR…

Florida plans to build air taxi pads using $200M intended for EV chargers

Florida wants to use federal EV charger funds to build an air taxi network connecting golf courses, luxury apartment buildings, and airports.

Electra to build $850M Ohio factory for EL9 hybrid-electric plane
Electra to build $850M Ohio factory for EL9 hybrid-electric plane

Electra is putting $850 million into its first aircraft factory, and it picked Springfield, Ohio to build the EL9 Ultra Short, its nine-passenger hybrid-electric plane that can take off in as little as 150 feet.
The plant will eventually build up to 80…

Anduril and Archer unveiled an autonomous attack rotorcraft built on air taxi technology. First flight is planned for 2027.
Anduril and Archer unveiled an autonomous attack rotorcraft built on air taxi technology. First flight is planned for 2027.

Anduril and Archer Aviation unveiled Thunder at the Farnborough International Airshow on Sunday, a Group 5 autonomous attack rotorcraft built on a jointly developed dual-use platform. The aircraft is designed to multiply the combat power of crewed atta…

Xpeng debuted its flying car in Germany. It has 7,000 orders and a factory that can build 10,000 a year.
Xpeng debuted its flying car in Germany. It has 7,000 orders and a factory that can build 10,000 a year.

Xpeng debuted the Land Aircraft Carrier at a launch event in Munich on Wednesday, the first time the Chinese automaker has shown its modular flying car outside Asia. The vehicle is a six-wheeled ground unit, called the Mothership, with a detachable two…

The first flights of the US air-taxi program carried organs, not passengers
The first flights of the US air-taxi program carried organs, not passengers

Beta Technologies has completed the first flights in the US government’s electric air-taxi pilot programme. The Amazon-backed company flew the debut missions of the scheme, CNBC reports. The flights did not carry passengers. Instead, they transported m…

Tesla in-cabin camera fails to prevent 60 mph naps as Wisk Aero faces lawsuit
Tesla in-cabin camera fails to prevent 60 mph naps as Wisk Aero faces lawsuit

On today’s surveillance-heavy episode of Quick Charge, it sure looks like Tesla’s in-cabin driver cam failed to stop one woman from falling asleep at the wheel, but safety and attention monitoring may not be the end game for that camera after all.