The all-electric four-seater can fly without a human pilot. The company said it will try to get approval from the FAA to carry passengers.
The flying taxi company bankrolled by Larry Page that recently shut down is in a race to become the first Advanced Air Mobility company to get the green light from the Federal Aviation Administration. According to Wisk, its sixth-generation aircraft is the first e VTOL candidate for type certification.
Aviation companies need to get three types of certification before launching a service. The company can officially conduct commercial air taxi services if they have type certification, production certification, and air carrier certification.
Wisk has an aircraft that has six front and six rear rotors, each with five blades, that can tilt either vertically or horizontally. The company says it has a cruising speed of 120 knots and can fly up to 4,000 feet above ground.
Wisk wants to provide a flying taxi service that can be summoned with an app. The plan is for the vehicle to not have a pilot on board; instead, it will be flown by an autopilot system.
Fourteen million flights will be conducted annually in around 20 major markets around the globe by the time the company launches an air taxi service within the next five years.
Air taxis, also known as flying cars, are helicopter-like vehicles without the noise and pollution of gas engines. Companies like Joby Aviation and Ehang claim to be on the verge of launching services that will eventually scale up nationwide.
They were able to get funding from a number of established companies. According to analysts, the flying taxi market could reach $150 billion in revenue in the next two decades.
Serious obstacles still remain before Wisk or any other company can offer a commercial service. The power-to-weight ratio is one of the biggest challenges for electric flight. Today's batteries don't contain enough energy to get most planes off the ground. Jet fuel gives us more energy than a battery.
There are many demonstrations of battery-powered flight, but there are no electric aircraft in commercial use.
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