The Department of Transportation (DOT) announced on Monday eight pilot projects designed to test advanced air mobility aircraft across 26 states, which the department said will change the future of travel.
“Flying cars are coming to a city near you!” U.S. Chief Technology Officer Ethan Klein said in a statement about the new Advanced Air Mobility and Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) Integration Pilot Program (eIPP).
The program will support a range of operational concepts including urban air taxi services, regional passenger transportation, cargo and logistics networks, emergency medical response operations, autonomous flight technologies, and offshore and energy-sector transportation, according to the department.
Or, as Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy put it at a Punchbowl News conference on Tuesday, eVTOLs can be imagined as “human drones.”
“We’re not going to have hundreds of them in the air, but you know, companies are going to have multiple products flying,” Duffy said.
“In the next five years, you’re going to see travel change,” he added.
Data from the pilot projects will be used by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to develop new regulations that will govern eVTOL technology at scale, DOT said.
“Making sure we get the regulation right there is important,” Duffy explained. “Having regulations that are moving with innovation is really important, and we’re working on that.”
Operations under the program are expected to begin by summer 2026, the department said.
DOT said the projects will test passenger air taxis in the New York metropolitan area, explore regional passenger transportation networks in Texas, support cargo transport in the Gulf, enable medical flights in North Carolina, and advance autonomous flight operations in Albuquerque, N.M.
The eight selected projects are led by:
- The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
- Texas Department of Transportation
- Utah Department of Transportation
- Pennsylvania Department of Transportation
- Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development
- Florida Department of Transportation
- North Carolina Department of Transportation
- The city of Albuquerque, N.M.
DOT said it received more than 30 proposals for the program. The eight selected projects were evaluated on their ability to integrate advanced air mobility aircraft into existing aviation systems, the scope of their operational concepts, the potential to inform future regulations, the experience of project partners in aircraft development, and the strength of partnerships between government and industry stakeholders.