{"id":103731,"date":"2026-01-02T22:17:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T22:17:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/103731\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T22:17:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T22:17:07","slug":"flying-taxis-could-take-off-this-year-in-florida","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/103731\/","title":{"rendered":"Flying taxis could take off this year in Florida"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Now, that we have crossed over into 2026, it\u2019s officially the year of highways in the skies.<\/p>\n

What You Need To Know<\/p>\n

To relieve some of the roadway congestion, the Florida Department of Transportation wants to take drivers off the road and into the air
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FDOT has been working to build infrastructure to accommodate flying taxis, with a goal to start commercial services for passengers at the end of this year
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According to FDOT, the advanced air mobility network would eventually spread across the state of Florida, but the first phase is a stretch that includes airports from Daytona Beach through Orlando and to Sarasota<\/p>\n

The Florida Department of Transportation has been working to build infrastructure to accommodate flying taxis, with a goal to start commercial services for passengers at the end of this year.<\/p>\n

These would be similar to an Uber service, but instead of sitting in the car in traffic on I-4, it would take riders into the air to get to their destinations. The first phase of this project is in Central Florida.<\/p>\n

The focus is the I-4 corridor.<\/p>\n

\u201cHorrible, horrible,\u201d said Margaret Ramirez, who often drives on I-4. \u201cToo much traffic.\u201d<\/p>\n

To relieve some of that congestion, FDOT wants to take drivers off the road and into the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean kind of like the Jetsons. Everything is coming to the future,\u201d Ramirez said.<\/p>\n

There can be a wide range of vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, known as VTOL\u2019s, that could be used.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are waiting on a lot of different pieces to fall into place,\u201d said Dr. Bob Thomas, a professor of Aeronautical Science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In a plan provided by the Florida Department of Transportation, the first phase of the project will cover the I-4 corridor. (FDOT)<\/p>\n

Thomas said it is possible for this technology to take off in 2026, but there aren\u2019t many details yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a lot of questions as to what kind of vehicles are actually going to be approved by the FAA, pilot certification, the duration of the flights, whether they are using electric power or standard combustion powered aircraft or a hybrid model,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n

According to FDOT, the advanced air mobility network would eventually spread across the state of Florida, but the first phase is the stretch that includes airports from Daytona Beach through Orlando and to Sarasota.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless it was very economical, which I imagine it is not going to be, I don\u2019t see myself using it right off the bat,\u201d said Jeannette Eberle, who lives in Winter Haven.<\/p>\n

There are many unanswered questions, like the potential cost of the services. In the coming months, FDOT plans to complete the headquarters in Polk County for the aerial highway network and test out this technology before passengers take flight at the end of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be the first passenger,\u201d Ramirez said.<\/p>\n

The countdown begins to get the right infrastructure and people in place to make this happen in the next 12 months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Now, that we have crossed over into 2026, it\u2019s officially the year of highways in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103732,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2175,28,115,1335,139,141,140,9429,135,729],"class_list":{"0":"post-103731","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-app-traffic-and-transit","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-orange-county","12":"tag-orlando","13":"tag-orlando-headlines","14":"tag-orlando-news","15":"tag-sarah-winkelmann","16":"tag-tampa","17":"tag-traffic"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103731\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}