{"id":6205,"date":"2023-02-21T15:34:53","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T15:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/?p=6205"},"modified":"2023-02-22T03:34:14","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T03:34:14","slug":"with-faa-support-joby-pushes-ahead-with-drone-taxis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/with-faa-support-joby-pushes-ahead-with-drone-taxis\/","title":{"rendered":"With FAA Support, Joby Pushes Ahead with Drone Taxis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iRlmfFIiHbU\" width=\"740\" height=\"415\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Are \u201cflying taxis\u201d a Jetsonian fantasy?\u00a0 Or could passenger drones \u2013with proper regulation \u2013 soon become an integral part of the urban transportation landscape?\u00a0 The debate has raged for years, with naysayers pooh-poohing the idea on two counts:\u00a0 First, the persistent air traffic risk of autonomous drone flights, especially ones involving human passengers, and second, the exorbitant cost of using a drone taxi service relative to existing mass transit.\u00a0 If only the super-affluent can afford the new taxis, how will financially strapped cities already facing budget shortfalls to repair their decaying subway systems possibly justify major new outlays for flying taxi infrastructure on behalf of a privileged few?<\/p>\n<p>Despite these apparent \u2013 indeed, obvious \u2013 obstacles the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is continuing to push ahead with the idea.\u00a0 Several\u00a0 companies are in the forefront of developing the needed know-how to design and manufacture passenger drones.\u00a0 For example, just last month, Joby (formerly known as Wisk) obtained a fresh FAA certification that will allow it to move ahead to the second stage of prototype development, with full scale testing \u2013 following completion of all five stages \u2013 tentatively scheduled for 2025.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCertification is an integral part of everything that an aerospace company does and with the achievement of this critical milestone, we\u2019re now able to confidently focus our efforts on closing the remaining certification plans and completing the testing required to certify our aircraft,\u201d said Didier Papadopoulos, head of aircraft original equipment manufacturing at Joby.<\/p>\n<p>The FAA isn\u2019t just looking to the United States to pioneer Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) options, including drone taxis.\u00a0 In January, the FAA and the Korea Office of Civil Aviation (KOCA) agreed to partner on future AAM aircraft development and operations. The agencies\u2019 \u201cDeclaration of Cooperation\u201d \u2013 which includes sharing of technologies and criteria for \u00a0safety oversight, airworthiness, licensing, and operations \u2013 follows upon recent FAA partnerships with Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand designed to harmonize national drone taxi certification criteria and integration plans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCollaborating with our international partners on safely integrating these new technologies will create more efficient, sustainable and equitable transportation options,\u201d Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen said earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p>Other companies involved in the FAA drone taxi initiative include Uber and Delta Airlines, which appear to have dropped their own initiatives in favor of\u00a0 future partnership with Joby.\u00a0 Delta wants to introduce drone air taxis as an airport-to-city shuttle service.\u00a0 The airline has already committed $60 million to the initiative but is standing by with another $140 million once Joby jumps through a few more hoops.\u00a0 United Airlines appears ready to fund a similar initiative, with an upfront investment of $15 million in the San Jose-based drone company Archer Aviation.<\/p>\n<p>Despite these latest breakthroughs, industry critics aren\u2019t convinced that drone taxis will be filling the sky \u2013 even near airports \u2013 anytime soon.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRight now this feels more like a Newton moment than an iPhone moment,\u201d writes Devin Coldewey, in a recent issue of <em>Techcrunch<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe batteries are not there. The tech is not there. The regulations and oversight are not there. Nor is the demand, especially once the true cost of the systems became the customers\u2019 burden instead of investors\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Still, with the FAA\u2019s imprimatur, the apple has finally fallen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\ufeff Are \u201cflying taxis\u201d a Jetsonian fantasy?\u00a0 Or could passenger drones \u2013with proper regulation \u2013 soon become an integral part of the urban transportation landscape?\u00a0 The debate has raged for years, with naysayers pooh-poohing the idea on two counts:\u00a0 First, the persistent air traffic risk of autonomous drone flights, especially ones involving human passengers, and&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/with-faa-support-joby-pushes-ahead-with-drone-taxis\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,21],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6205"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dronevideos.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}