The US aircraft manufacturer Boeing is investing 450 million US dollars (almost 400 million euros) in Wisk Aero. The company from the “Advanced Air Mobility” (AAM) sector is working on an eVTOL aircraft that can fly autonomously and now sees itself supported in this plan by Boeing.
Wisk Aero is a joint venture between Boeing and Kitty Hawk Corporation. Funded by Google co-founder Larry Page, Kitty Hawk debuted its in-house Cora in 2018, a two-person electric flier that can take off vertically and then fly like an airplane, meaning it doesn’t need a runway, now offered by Wisk Aero . The German company Lilium is also pursuing a similar concept.
“We are fortunate to have Boeing not only as an investor but also as a strategic partner, giving us access to a variety of resources, industry-leading expertise, global reach, extensive certification experience and more,” said Wisk CEO Gary Gysin. Now his company is well positioned to pursue the long-term strategy of providing safe, everyday flight for everyone.
“Pioneer of autonomous aviation”
Boeing and its strategy chief Marc Allen see Wisk as a pioneer of fully electric, AI-controlled and autonomous aviation. For him, autonomy is important to enable AAM applications for all passengers and cargo.
The previous five generations of Wisk flight taxis only flew for test purposes and were only visible to the general public on photos or videos. In mid-November 2021, Wisk presented its eVTOL aircraft to the public for the first time at the CoMotion La air show. The plane was tested in autonomous mode for the first time in 2017.
The 6 m long aircraft has twelve propellers on two fixed wings with a span of 12 m and one propeller at the tail. It should have a range of 40 km and be able to fly at an altitude of up to 1500 m and at a maximum speed of 160 km/h.
(app)