Manufacturers

Headquarters: Slovakia What: In April, 2018, this eight-year-old engineering firm launched the hybrid-electric AeroMobile 5.0 prototype, a four-wheeled, four-passenger VTOL that can be driven on roads and flown in the air. It’s intended to be used as a way to get around metropolitan areas. The company also has a 4.0 STOL (short take-off and landing),…

Headquarters: Manassas, VA What: Acquired by Boeing in the fall of 2017, Aurora specializes in flight systems for pilotless electric aircraft for both military and commercial applications. It’s produced a line of small eVTOL autonomous aircraft. Before being acquired by Boeing, Aurora had been working with Uber to develop flying taxis and demonstration flights had…

The Uber/Bell Flight partnership to create an urban air taxi system in the Dallas/Fort Worth area is on a tight schedule. Both companies want the Uber Elevate system operating between the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport and Frisco Station by 2023, with first test flights expected by 2020. Given the schedule, there’s speculation that a recent patent…

Headquarters: Japan What: Toyota recently invested $370,000 in this nonprofit organization, which is employing the skills of volunteers from the automobile, aviation, and IT industries to develop a road/air quadrotor craft called SkyDrive. The aerial car’s rotors remain folded while being driven on the road and unfold when transitioning to flight mode. Maximum flight speed…

Ehang Headquarters: China What: At the 2016 CES tech conference in Las Vegas, Ehang tested the Ehang 184, an egg-shaped, single-passenger autonomous quadcopter that can carry up to 220 pounds for 10 miles or about 25 minutes in the air. The passenger doesn’t fly the craft; he simply sets the flight path into the computer…

Headquarters: Israel What: Established in 2013 by Dr. Rafi Yoeli, an aerospace research and development scientist with more than 35 years experience, and others, including Major-General Herzle Bodinger, the former Commander of the Israeli Air Force, Urban Aeronautics is pursuing several markets for flying cars through its subsidiaries, Metro Skyways and Tactical Robotics. While Tactical…