The UK developer of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL), Vertical Aerospace, says it has completed the first untethered test flight of its future battery-powered air taxi, propelling it into an elite of sector startups that have managed to both produce prototypes and get them aloft.
London-based Vertical announced it had conducted the “look, no hands, Ma” operation of its VX4 eVTOL at the private aviation Cotswold Airport near the capital, noting the air taxi was put through “a series of rigorous, remotely-piloted ‘thrustborne’ test flights.” The untethered outing opens the way for further unassisted trials of the craft, which is seeking concurrent operational certification in both the UK and European Union.
Read more: Vertical Aerospace to obtain concurrent UK and EU certification
Vertical said its prototype air taxi had reached target speeds of 40 mph, with a video released of the flight showing the craft advancing beyond essential hovering functions to forward movement and rotation maneuvers. The milestone added to the VX4’s status as what the company calls the “only full-scale eVTOL aircraft in the country.”
Vertical was otherwise laconic in its announcement, revealing neither the duration nor date of the test. Its decision to stage the eVTOL’s recent trial without a pilot contrasted its first tethered ascent last September, when a crew member was present behind the controls.
At the time, the UK air taxi company stressed that unlike many competitors conducting similar trials, it had opted to stage its “first flight tests with a pilot on board to prove it could meet the most stringent safety standards.”
Both the flight and demonstration of its advancing work on the VX4 were significant for Vertical within the context of a crowded eVTOL sector. The disparate degrees of air taxi development by its many companies, and increasingly tight access to funding, has raised expectations of looming consolidation.
Vertical and other startups that have produced, flown, and otherwise progressed their craft toward certification would logically be in stronger position to survive an anticipated shakeout – and even possibly snatch up any tech windfall from startups that don’t make it out the other end.
Read: Cash-pinched Lilium secures additional $192 million for eVTOL air taxi development [Update]
In achieving its first untethered eVTOL operation, Vertical joins a select group of rivals including Joby, Archer, Volocopter, and Wisk – all of whom have significantly pushed development of their air taxis toward production and certification since that point.
Its recent success notwithstanding, then, UK company has a lot of ground to make up to match those leading companies, and – as its announcement last year it had pushed back launch objectives to 2026 indicates – many unexpected hurdles yet to clear.
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