It’s a bird…it’s a plane…no, it’s an air taxi and it’s coming in to land soon, prompting cities across the United States to get ready for airborne urban travel.

Nobody yet knows exactly what an air taxi even is, how it might look or who will get to use it, but cities know it’s on the way and want to be ready for takeoff.

None of the small, electric aircraft in development has yet won full U.S. regulatory approval, but the process is underway, with some companies vying to fly as early as next year.

“This is coming sooner than a lot of people think,” said Jacques Coulon, mobility innovation manager for the city of Orlando in Florida.

A Utah group wants a futuristic system of air taxis to serve Beehive State residents and visitors sooner than you might think.

Before Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon, Apollo 11′s lightweight shock-absorbing footpads made their mark in history.

Now, the company that made those footpads is looking to take another big leap in the next frontier of air travel.

Hexcel announced Thursday its partnership with Utah aerospace industry association 47G and dozens of Beehive State-based technology companies to construct “air taxis” — lightweight “vertical takeoff” vehicles that would fly residents and visitors across the Wasatch Front.

We take a look at how cyber and physical security might play out in the eVTOL landscape.

As the advanced air mobility (AAM) era approaches, cybersecurity is critical — as important as making sure eVTOL aircraft themselves are safe to fly. The threat of cyber attack to aviation and other types of critical infrastructure can come from any source — domestic or foreign.

There’s been significant recognition in the U.S. of the importance of cybersecurity since the 2021 cyber attack on the Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest oil pipelines in the country. The hack (ransomware) was considered a national security threat, and “the federal administration was quick at reacting,” said Gaël Le Bris, vice president of aviation planning and senior technical principal at global engineering firm WSP. He also chairs the Transportation Research Board’s standing committee on aviation safety, security and emergency management.

From The Jetsons to Back to the Future to The Fifth Element, flying cars have always been the stuff of science fiction, but they might be soaring through Florida’s skies sooner than you think. The state has become a hotbed for flying car companies who view it as an appealing location for their emerging industry.

We’re talking about eVTOLs, electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles. The nascent beginnings of an air taxi industry using eVTOLs (pronounced EE-vee-tolls) are starting to take shape on the drawing boards of Florida startups, and Florida’s airports are factoring them into their long-term plans. Before too long, small electric aircraft could be whisking passengers between airports and local destinations, zipping above earthbound traffic.

Some eVTOL companies talk of getting off the ground as early as 2025, although the industry consensus seems to be that flying taxis for paying passengers are probably three or four years away, depending on who you ask. In any case, flights will begin once there’s a green light from the federal government, and the future market for eVTOLs in the U.S. could reach $17 billion a year by 2040, according to a Deloitte study of this evolving industry. Meanwhile, state and federal government regulators are starting to grapple with how all of this will actually work in the real world, and the eVTOL industry’s backers are well aware that they’re going to have to win the confidence of consumers on both safety and cost.

If the technology takes off, city officials will need to step into the world of aviation rules to ensure safety and limit environmental impact.

A new report from the Berkeley Transportation Sustainability Research Center outlines some of the steps that aviation agencies and urban planners will need to take to plan for ‘advanced air mobility’ such as air taxis and delivery craft.

Writing in Smart Cities Dive, Dan Zukowski notes that “The Federal Aviation Administration published guidelines for the operation of air taxis in the nation’s airspace last year, expecting growth to accelerate beginning in 2028.”

Air taxis are “electrically powered aircraft that can take off and land vertically like a helicopter” that supporters say could ease traffic congestion and offer a new, sustainable transportation mode.

Many local governments shy away from aviation regulation, but if air taxis become safe and viable, city planners will need to pay close attention. “One area for collaboration is planning future development near vertiports. Aircraft will need approach and departure paths, and a tall building erected near a vertiport could affect flight operations.”

Cities will need to update zoning ordinances to regulate where vertiports can be located, how the services would impact neighborhoods, flight times, and connections to existing transit and key destinations. “The report concludes that the public sector will need to understand public perceptions of advanced air mobility deployments, develop zoning provisions, evaluate demonstrations and early operations and prioritize stakeholder and community engagement.”

Two Joby pre-production EAVs have flown more than 1,500 flights over a distance totaling 33,000 miles.

Flying taxi company Joby Aviation has completed flight tests with its pre-production electric aerial vehicle (EAV).

The EAV maker now moves to flight testing with its production prototype flying vehicle as it prepares testing for credit by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Two Joby pre-production EAVs have flown more than 1,500 flights over a distance totaling 33,000 miles, with more than 100 flights with a pilot onboard.

One of the pre-production vehicles conducted an exhibition flight from the Manhattan Downtown Heliport over the Hudson River in New York City late last year.

In an interview to ET Infra, Amit Dutta, Managing Director, Hunch Mobility, outlined that as and when eVTOL aircraft start services in the country, their operations will result in disruption in terms of bringing fares down, similar to what was observed in the telecom industry when entry of Reliance Infocomm led to fall in mobile tariffs.

About an hour’s drive from the company’s headquarters in Guangzhou, China, sits a test site for Ehang’s autonomous aerial vehicles.

Perched on the tarmac during CNBC’s visit was the company’s fully autonomous, two-seater air taxi.

“This is our EH216 model, and it is positioned for short-distance transportation or sightseeing in the city,” said Dong Wang, Ehang’s vice president of technical research and development. His interview with “CNBC Tech: The Edge” has been translated into English from Mandarin.

In October 2023, Ehang announced the EH216-S AAV had secured a “type certificate” from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the country’s equivalent to the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States — a certification Wang said is a world first.

“The operation is fully automated. Its scheduling system runs on the server, so its route is automatically loaded, and then it carries out a completely automated route flight.”

The aircraft will cost $410,000 overseas, with a reduced price tag of 2.39 million yuan in China, equal to about $330,000.

Manufacturers Joby Aviation, Archer Aviation, and Wisk Aero are among the firms using the agency’s Overflow technology.

Whether you love them, hate them, or are in the process of building them, electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis have a key hurdle to overcome: noise. Air taxi manufacturers are turning to NASA for assistance.

According to the space agency, “several” eVTOL companies are deploying a NASA computer program to model their future operations and the noise they will produce. The program, called Overflow, was developed in the 1990s. But NASA tells FLYING it has made “significant improvements” to its code to improve its usefulness for the industry. The code is publicly available for download.

Manufacturers developing technology related to NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Mission—which explores passenger transport, cargo delivery, public service, and other applications for eVTOL designs—are being granted an early look at how their propellers, wings, and other components may perform in action.

AutoFlight has delivered its first Prosperity aircraft to a customer in Japan, marking the inaugural delivery of a civilian ton-class eVTOL aircraft. The five-seater Prosperity aircraft was handed over to the customer, a pioneering Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) operator in Japan. The operator is currently developing plans for demonstration eVTOL flights at the 2025 Osaka World Expo, as well as a wider AAM rollout in Japan.

In another recent milestone for the eVTOL innovator, AutoFlight’s CarryAll aircraft, the cargo variant of Prosperity, obtained Type Certification (TC) from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) on 22 March 2024. This marks the world’s first eVTOL aircraft above one ton to have been awarded type certification…