A flying taxi from NASA? The agency is already testing the prototype

NASA deals not only with conquering the cosmos, but also with something more down-to-earth, although still far from the earth on which we walk. Today we learned that as part of the AAM (Advanced Air Mobility) campaign, a flying taxi from NASA may even be created over time. However, before that happens, NASA specialists will look at the work of another company with which they have worked so far.

NASA and Joby have developed their flying taxi, the eVTOL, which tests have just begun

This company will be Joby, and the flying taxi will be her unnamed 6-rotor eVTOL, an electric powered lift, which will be tested until September 10 at an aviation station in California. This will be the first round of testing, and evidently not the last one, but the upcoming one will include the collection of detailed data on vehicle movement, noise and communication in various forms of flight. For this purpose, a special mobile “acoustic center” was created, allowing to follow this eVTOL with the use of 50 different microphones.

Also read: Autonomous taxi of the future from the Amazon Zoox

This is not a coincidence, because the noise level generated by autonomously flying “large drones” is an important factor in terms of introducing them to public use. These types of transport simply need not to disturb people in their daily lives, but it seems the problems caused by the FAA regulations will further limit the introduction of eVTOL to the market.

Also read: A flying taxi from Volocopter will soon appear in the sky

They are the ones that supposedly hinder the development of American companies, but the chances are that it will improve. A flying taxi from NASA and the conclusions of its tests will provide the basis for the Federal Aviation Administration for possible changes in its approach to consumer VTOL (via Science Alert).