US autonomous air mobility company Wisk, which is backed by Boeing, is not offering its 12-rotor Cora all-electric air taxi for the US Air Force’s (USAF’s) Agility Prime electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) competition.
Wisk CEO Gary Gysin told reporters on 26 June that the company’s mission is to be purely commercial. Wisk spokesman Chris Brown said on 30 June that the company’s decision to not pursue Agility Prime is based on a larger goal of bringing an air taxi to New Zealand and later the United States.
Wisk’s Cora 12-rotor eVTOL aircraft. The company decided not to bid for the USAF’s Agility Prime programme to focus on bringing air taxi capability to New Zealand and later the United States. (Cora)
Although there are several use-case opportunities Wisk can pursue, Brown said it is important for the company to remain focused on its primary objective to deliver safe, autonomous travel in urban areas. Agility Prime seeks to establish a collaborative strategy with industry and investors that accelerates fielding the most promising technologies for savings and utility to the Pentagon, as well as potential commercial market success.
There are few eVTOL developers who have the support of a major original equipment manufacturer (OEM) such as Boeing. Automobile manufacturer Toyota announced in January it was investing USD394 million in Joby Aviation’s eVTOL aircraft. In addition, Airbus, Bell, Embraer, and Hyundai are players in the eVTOL space.
Marilyn Smith, Georgia Institute of Technology aerospace engineering professor and Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence director, told Janes
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