Boeing and Kitty Hawk Corporation have announced plans to will work together on “future efforts to advance safe urban air mobility...”
The new partnership will focus on Kitty Hawk’s Cora division, which is developing a two-person, all-electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi that's already in testing in New Zealand.
Founded by former Google exec Sebastian Thrun X and with the backing of Google's Larry Page this collaboration with industry veterans Boeing will surely help ensure the two-seater Cora flying vehicle will one day be unveiled to mass market as a semi-autonomous flying taxi service.
“Working with a company like Kitty Hawk brings us closer to our goal of safely advancing the future of mobility,” said Boeing NeXt vice president and general manager Steve Nordlund. “We have a shared vision of how people, goods and ideas will be transported in the future, as well as the safety and regulatory ecosystem that will underpin that transportation.”
At present Kitty Hawk has two vehicles in its lineup -- the Kitty Hawk Flyer, which hovers 10 feet above the ground and goes about 20 miles per hour, and the Cora, an electric two-person air taxi.
Kitty Hawk is not the only company vieing to lead the VTOL aviation race, most notably, Uber announced plans to start test flights of its own Uber Air service in 2020, with a commercial launch planned for 2023.
