{"id":232599,"date":"2026-04-02T23:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T23:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/232599\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T23:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T23:47:09","slug":"air-taxis-to-be-tested-in-texas-as-part-of-new-faa-pilot-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/232599\/","title":{"rendered":"Air taxis to be tested in Texas as part of new FAA pilot program"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Air Air taxis to be tested in Texas<\/a> <\/p>\n

You could start seeing Air Taxis in the sky in the coming year. Texas is part of a federal pilot program that is paving the way for flying cars to operate.<\/p>\n

AUSTIN, Texas – You could start seeing air taxis in the sky this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Texas Department of Transportation is part of a Federal Aviation Administration pilot program that will test air taxis<\/a>. The program includes eight projects spanning 26 states.<\/p>\n

What we know:<\/p>\n

The aircraft are called eVTOLs, which stands for electric vertical takeoff and landing. Test flights will connect Dallas, Austin<\/a>, San Antonio<\/a>, Houston and rural communities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

TxDOT is partnering with four companies: Archer Aviation<\/a>, BETA Technologies<\/a>, Joby Aviation<\/a>, and Wisk Aero<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Most eVTOLs will have pilots who will communicate with air traffic control. EVTOLs will be quieter than helicopters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

One company, Wisk, will have autonomous eVTOLs. They also have an Austin-based subsidiary called SkyGrid.<\/p>\n

EVTOLS can have different uses, including rideshare and cargo delivery.<\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

“We want to make sure that as these routes are developed and as this innovation and technology is scaled in Texas, that it happens safely first and foremost, that it does happen efficiently and that there is a public use and benefit for this,” Sergio Roman, director of emerging aviation technologies at TxDOT said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We do know that it creates a pathway to bring this new category of aircraft to Texas as part of this program, and it’s really the groundwork that needs to be done for thoughtful integration into the airspace, how we collaborate with the community, how we are testing and providing that to the FAA so that we further our certification initiatives and goals, and then definitely learning on infrastructure, framework, how to operate, and things like that. There’s lots to it, but it’s great for Texas, and we’re excited that Texas was chosen as one of these major cities for program,” Melissa McCaffrey, head of government affairs at Archer Aviation, said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Instead of having a pilot in the aircraft, you have what we call a vehicle supervisor or multi-vehicle supervisors, so somebody that will be able to supervise a fleet of aircraft. So not the person flying the aircraft with a joystick. Think of it more as a gondola in the sky that the flight path would be predetermined,” Emilien Marchand, director of ecosystem partnerships at Wisk Aero, said.<\/p>\n

“What we want to do is we want to have an aerial ride sharing service, so think air taxi. In the not-too-distant future, you’ll be able to open up an Uber app and see Uber X, Uber Black, or Uber Air powered by Joby,” Lydon Sleeper, head of U.S. Strategic Policy at Joby Aviation, said. “I think there’s a lot of different ways that you can imagine the service developing over the next couple of years. We’re excited to build that out in partnership with Texas and communities around the state.”<\/p>\n

“What’s really important when we talk about advanced air mobility is that it’s about more than just air taxis in urban spaces, which is what a lot of people hear about. That is a super exciting piece of this, but it also is about expanding access to healthcare and providing more efficient and lower cost cargo delivery for small businesses and providing affordable regional transport as well,” Thea Wurzburg, who handles government relations at BETA Technologies said.<\/p>\n

What’s next:<\/p>\n

Data collected during the pilot program will be used to develop air taxi regulations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Texas pilot project will launch in phases over the next three years:<\/p>\n

Phase I will be without passengers for testing routesPhase II will test flying medical supplies and cargo between rural facilities and urban medical centersPhase III includes air taxi flights in the regional network <\/p>\n

You could start to see test flights later this year.<\/p>\n

Roman says air taxis can start at airports that already exist, but later, infrastructure can be added like “vertiports” or “vertipads” and charging stations. He says funding discussions would come later on, and it depends on what infrastructure the cities or the state would want to build.<\/p>\n

The Source: Information in this report comes from reporting\/interviews with FOX 7 Austin’s Angela Shen, the Texas Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration.<\/p>\n

Transportation<\/a>Austin<\/a>Texas<\/a>San Antonio<\/a>Technology<\/a>Travel News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Air taxis to be tested in Texas You could start seeing Air Taxis in the sky in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,698,223,82,3621,840,3019,394,216,393],"class_list":{"0":"post-232599","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news","11":"tag-bexar-county","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-san-antonio","14":"tag-technology","15":"tag-transportation","16":"tag-travel-news","17":"tag-travis-county","18":"tag-tx","19":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}