Sky Uber? Air taxis could be here soon

Summary

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Short Wave — "Sky Uber? Air taxis could be here soon."

NPR, July 6, 2026

Hosts: Emily Kwong & Regina Barber
Guests: Lee Witcher (Georgia Tech), Bonnie Simi (Joby Aviation), Marilyn Smith (Georgia Tech)

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Episode Overview

This episode launches the "Tech Camp" summer series, exploring the technological frontier, breakthroughs, and innovations that could soon change our world. Hosts Emily Kwong and Regina Barber take a close look at air taxis—a longstanding science fiction fantasy and now a rapidly emerging possibility. They dig into the history of urban air travel, current electric vehicle prototypes, regulatory hurdles, and whether everyday people will soon be able to order a "Sky Uber."

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. A Brief History of Air Taxis

• 1950s Helicopter Taxis in NYC:
  • Air taxis began as helicopters transporting passengers from Manhattan rooftops to airports—convenient but exclusive.
  • Regina Barber: “As long ago as 1953, you could order a flying taxi in New York City.” (01:00)
  • Vintage promo audio (01:06–01:31) highlights quick, elevated commutes.
• At their peak, cost was ~$7 (about $70 today).
• Regina Barber: “Customers took helicopters, usually short trips to the airport. And it cost about the same that an Uber ride to the airport costs now.” (05:02)
• Why They Disappeared: Financial/regulatory troubles, accidents (notably a crash in 1977), and recession led to their demise.

2. The New Era: Electric Vertical Flight Vehicles ("Air Taxis")

• No More Helicopters:
  • Modern air taxis are called "vertical flight vehicles”—hybrid helicopter-airplane designs.
  • Regina Barber: “They're really ushered in by new science with a focus on safety and sustainability. For one, no more fuel.” (06:16)
• Prototypes and Companies:
  • Key U.S. players: Beta (Vermont), Archer and Joby (California), the latter partnering with Uber.
  • Joby Air Taxi: Electric, vertical takeoff, multiple propellers, pilot-operated—test flights have already happened in NY and SF.
  • Emily Kwong: “It looks like a drone, but massive, with multiple propellers.” (07:22)
• Global Expansion: Joby and Uber claim air taxi flights could launch in Dubai in 2026.

3. How They Work: Physics, Safety, and Noise

• Aircraft Design:
  • Looks drone-like due to multiple upward propellers—these rotate forward in flight, making it function like a small plane.
  • Emily Kwong (re: transformation): “So it’s like a transformer.” (08:30)
  • Bonnie Simi (Joby): “If you can transition forward onto a wing, now the wing is producing lift that keeps you in the air.” (08:42)
• Efficiency and Noise:
  • Using wings for lift reduces battery consumption.
  • Quieter than helicopters, an important feature for urban areas.
  • Regina Barber: “The noise pollution is a concern. Right. So companies are working to minimize that.” (09:02)
• Redundancy = Safety:
  • Multiple propellers—so if one fails, others compensate.
  • Bonnie Simi: "If an entire propulsion unit fails...the pilot actually doesn't even notice that they lost one." (09:31)

4. The Regulatory Challenge

• FAA Certification:
  • All air taxis must be approved by the FAA, which is just beginning to build expertise and oversight in this sector.
  • Lee Witcher (Georgia Tech): “The FAA were kind of ambushed, I think with this industry. They've really caught up and they're very proactive and very open minded.” (10:10)
• New FAA Office:
  • Opened Jan 2026 to coordinate integration of air taxis and drones with existing aviation.
  • Lee Witcher: “Not just drones, but flying taxis into the airspace with all of the current aviation that and also how to integrate vertiports.” (10:33)

5. Infrastructure: Building the “Vertiport”

• Vertiports: Dedicated pads for air taxis to take off/land, inspired by existing helipads.
  • Modifying rooftops or constructing new flat-roofed buildings—already happening in LA.
  • Regina Barber: “Some existing skyscrapers have helipads...and in other places, they're building new, shorter buildings with big, wide, flat roofs for air taxis to land on.” (10:56)

6. The Sky Uber Experience: How Would It Work?

• Booking a Ride:
  • Integrated into ride-share apps (e.g. Uber Air).
  • The app tells you where the nearest vertiport is; a car brings you there, then you board your air taxi—no TSA lines.
  • Bonnie Simi: “So the Uber then brings you to the vertiport. You walk in through the door...and then you walk right onto the aircraft. So the whole thing's seamless. You don't have to think about it.” (12:08)
• Autonomous Future:
  • Pilotless versions are in development, but human pilots expected as the standard for years due to regulatory and safety hurdles.
  • Regina Barber: “Eventually they'll be self driving, no pilots. So the Georgia Tech project...that's a project to develop autonomous aircraft, although...that's at least a few years off.” (12:30)

7. Public Need and Urban Planning

• Do We Need Air Taxis?
  • Concern over airspace congestion and whether investment should go to ground public transit instead.
  • Emily Kwong: “There is a lot of congestion already in US Airspace with so many planes up in the air...Do we really need air taxis?” (12:49)
• Regulatory Perspective:
  • Air taxis seen as complementing, not replacing, public transit by repurposing existing infrastructure, with initial users likely to be current rideshare customers rather than transit riders.
• Public Awareness and Demand:
  • “Most people don’t even know these companies exist.” (Regina Barber, 14:07)
  • But infrastructure is being built now.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Regina Barber: “As long ago as 1953, you could order a flying taxi in New York City.” (01:00)
• Lee Witcher: “The regulatory question has been a challenge. The FAA were kind of ambushed, I think with this industry. They've really caught up and they're very proactive and very open minded.” (10:10)
• Emily Kwong: “So it’s like a transformer.” (08:30)
• Bonnie Simi: “If an entire propulsion unit fails...the pilot actually doesn't even notice that they lost one of the propulsion units other than...they'll see a flashing light, of course, but the passengers won't feel it.” (09:31)
• Emily Kwong: “Would you order an Uber Air with me?”
• Regina Barber: “Absolutely not. I would wave hi to you from the ground.” (14:31)

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Key Timestamps for Important Segments

• 1950s Air Taxi Recap: 00:55–01:48
• Florida Law & New Infrastructure: 01:48–02:19
• Meet the Modern Air Taxi: 02:19–03:15
• Old Air Taxi Companies: Why They Died: 05:02–05:24
• Today's Electric Vertical Vehicles: 06:15–07:22
• Joby Test Flight Description: 07:22–07:38
• How These Vehicles Fly/Efficiency: 08:11–09:02
• Safety & Redundancy: 09:16–09:46
• FAA & Regulation: 09:59–10:20
• Integration Into Urban Infrastructure (Vertiports): 10:44–11:25
• Ordering a Sky Uber: 11:38–12:22
• Autonomous Future: 12:30
• Public Need/Demand/Transit: 12:49–14:23

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Final Thoughts

The future of air taxis may be closer than we think, with infrastructure sprouting up, regulatory bodies scrambling to adapt, and companies ready to run pilot flights in the very near future. While hurdles remain—public awareness, airspace congestion, cost, and safety—the era of “Sky Ubers” is fast approaching, and the Jetsons’ dream might yet become our reality.

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Transcript

[NPR Sponsor Announcer]

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[Emily Kwong]

You're listening to Short Wave from NPR. Welcome back. Short waivers, it's your science besties, Emily

[Regina Barber]

Kwong and Regina Barber.

[Emily Kwong]

And this summer we have a brand new series for you.

[Regina Barber]

Tech Camp. That's right, every Monday. Check this feed for a new episode about the technological frontier, tracking down the breakthroughs, experiments and innovations that could change everything. And we're starting with a vehicle that's been promised to us for decades. This is where I thought technology was headed since the days of the Jetsons, flying cars.

[Emily Kwong]

But this was a fantasy of the 60s. Like flying cars are not real.

[Regina Barber]

And I'm gonna blow your mind. As long ago as 1953. You could order a flying taxi in New York City.

[NPR Sponsor Announcer]

New York Airways introduces a new dimension of passenger comfort and convenience in helicopter travel.

[Regina Barber]

Okay, so these weren't technically flying cars, they were helicopters. But these air taxis in New York would take passengers to the airport from maybe the roof of an office building in Manhattan. And this would cost about seven bucks in the mid-60s, which is a little over $70 today.

[NPR Sponsor Announcer]

Taxis are comfortable too, but not as dependable as a scheduled airline that flies over obstacles and delivers passengers by helicopter from Newark airport to Idlewild in 12 minutes flying time.

[Regina Barber]

And em, we might be on the cusp of air taxis making a constant humback in Florida. A law just went into effect to build infrastructures for them in places like airports.

[Emily Kwong]

Get out of here. Are you serious? What do you mean? Like, like, like you're saying that I could order an air taxi to my house to take me to a major airport?

[Regina Barber]

So that's the idea. I met Lee Witcher, an engineer at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, and I met him outside of an airplane hangar where they're trying to make flying taxis a reality.

[Lee Witcher]

The legend is, is that this hangar used to belong to Ludacris.

[Regina Barber]

And the prototype he showed me is for a pilotless flying taxi.

[Emily Kwong]

A flying taxi that flies on its own?

[Regina Barber]

Yes. This is a project called Raven, and it's a joint project with Georgia Tech and NASA.

[Lee Witcher]

So over at our hangar in Fulton County Airport, we have a test rig for the Raven project. It will be a roughly 1300 pound electric vertical takeoff aircraft.

[Regina Barber]

If you're going to be replacing some cars and maybe people going through the subway, you need to operate in densely populated areas where you just just can't build giant runways. And that means you need to take off vertically. But helicopters are loud and expensive and they require a lot of power to keep them moving around. So that's why we needed something new. And now a few companies say they're close to finally figuring out the science to overcome most of those barriers.

[Emily Kwong]

Today on Tech Camp, flying taxis, how a new generation of air taxis could

[Regina Barber]

revolutionize transportation and and how soon you could be riding in one.

[Emily Kwong]

You're listening to Short Wave, the science podcast from npr.

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[Emily Kwong]

NPR okay, Gina, so there were air taxis in New York in the 1950s

[Regina Barber]

and 60s and 70s. Yep. Wild.

[Emily Kwong]

But they were basically helicopters.

[Bonnie Simi]

Uh huh.

[Emily Kwong]

Helicopters, of course, are still used for some personal travel today, especially among the wealthy.

[Regina Barber]

Right? But even back then, the thinking was that air tax taxis would just be like another form of commercial air travel. In 1951, the Civil Aeronautics Board, a government agency, proposed a new class of air carrier, air taxis, that linked airline points with communities lacking airline service. I mean, the customers in the 1960s and 70s for these air taxis were mostly rich people and businessmen. And during that time business was good, like customers took helicopters, usually short trips to the airport. And it costs about the same that an Uber ride to the airport cost now.

[Emily Kwong]

So what happened to all these air taxi companies?

[Regina Barber]

They don't exist anymore. And this is because of a complex blend of financial and regulatory reasons, including a recession in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Plus in the 1960s Louisiana Airways suffered some crashes. And an aerospace engineer I talked to, Marilyn Smith, says that mistress hit a Peak in 1977. That is when tragedy struck a New York Airways flight. There was an accident on top of the Pan Am building, and parts of the helicopter fell to the street, and some people were injured and killed, and so that was the end of that. So Marilyn is the director of the Vertical Lift Research center of Excellence at Georgia Tech, and she says that the vehicles Georgia Tech students are working on are different from that old era of air taxis.

[Emily Kwong]

No more helicopters.

[Regina Barber]

No more helicopters.

[Emily Kwong]

Okay, what are they making?

[Regina Barber]

They're technically called vertical flight vehicles, and many companies brand them as air taxis. They're a combination of helicopter and airplane, and they're really ushered in by new science with a focus on safety and sustainability. For one, no more fuel. Most of the air taxis in development are electric. But building an aircraft that's light enough to take off but sturdy enough to be safe and house an electric battery and luggage, it's difficult. So some private companies are leading the way in this kind of research to build this new class vehicles.

[Emily Kwong]

Yeah, that makes sense. It's like very startupy what's happening right now. So what kinds of startups are out there?

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, so there's a few in the US There's Beta, a company based in Vermont, and two companies based in California, Archer and Joby. And Joby has partnered with Uber to try to get air taxis running for the public. They've already test flown with pilots in New York and San Francisco. And get this mjobian Uber, they claim that these air taxi flights will start in dubai this year 2026. Wild. I just want to show you a short video of Joby's test flight just so you can see what these things look like.

[Emily Kwong]

It looks like a drone, but massive with multiple propellers, and it fits a lot of people. It looks a little like the Star Trek Enterprise.

[Regina Barber]

I mean, I wish. I think it looks just like a Cessna with a lot of propellers, but I had the same thought. It is very drone like.

[Bonnie Simi]

Yeah.

[Regina Barber]

So I asked the president of operations at Joby, Bonnie Simi, if these aircrafts are just giant drones.

[Bonnie Simi]

No, not at all. It's no more a drone than a helicopter is a drone or a small airplane is a drone. I mean, you see aircraft of our size at every municipal airport out there, and nobody confuses those with drones.

[Emily Kwong]

Heard, not a drone. Yeah, apologies from this mere citizen non aviation expert over here. So what makes these Joby vertical takeoff aircraft so different?

[Regina Barber]

Right, so it kind of looks like a drone because it has these propellers that are, like, pointing up when the aircraft takes off and lands. But these propellers, they rotate 90 degrees while the aircraft is in flight.

[Emily Kwong]

Like the propellers that are on top

[Regina Barber]

then move forward yeah, like a small propeller plane.

[Emily Kwong]

So it's like a transformer.

[Regina Barber]

It is, yeah. So basically it transforms from a helicopter to a propeller plane. Right. And this is important because then it can take advantage of physics.

[Bonnie Simi]

There's so much more power required to keep you in the air for lift. But if you can transition forward onto a wing, now the wing is producing lift that keeps you in the air

[Regina Barber]

and you use less batteries morphing into a plane, using the wings for lift saves a ton of energy it would need if the vehicle like stayed in this helicopter mode the whole time.

[Lee Witcher]

Yeah.

[Regina Barber]

Plus the aircraft is quieter in this mode because propellers are doing less work. The noise pollution is a concern. Right. So companies are working to minimize that.

[Emily Kwong]

Very creative science. For sure.

[Regina Barber]

Innovative.

[Emily Kwong]

I'm seeing six propellers. I know they rotate forward. Is six propellers though safe? Is it too many?

[Regina Barber]

It's all about redundancy, em, so if one fails, the others will compensate. Here's Bonnie again from Joby.

[Bonnie Simi]

If an entire propulsion unit fails, then an opposing one will power down, the other four will power up, and the pilot actually doesn't even notice that they lost one of the propulsion units other than, you know, they'll be. They'll see a flashing light, of course, but the passengers won't feel it.

[Emily Kwong]

Redundancies are always good, especially with air travel. I'm wondering though, what does the FAA have to say about all of this? The Federal Aviation Administration, because they're ultimately in charge of regulating what is allowed in American airspace.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, that's the big question for the whole industry. And to do any travel in airspace in the US you need certification with the faa, which Joby and other startups are seeking right now.

[Lee Witcher]

So the regulatory question has been a challenge. The FAA were kind of ambushed, I think with this industry. They've really caught up and they're very proactive and very open minded.

[Regina Barber]

That's Lee Witcher again from Georgia Tech. We heard from him earlier. So, Em, in January 2026, the FAA announced a new office to oversee the integration of air taxis and other vehicles, like drones into the airspace.

[Lee Witcher]

Not just drones, but flying taxis into the airspace with all of the current aviation that and also how to integrate vertiports.

[Regina Barber]

So a vertiport, that word that he just said, are basically just these like pads that these air taxis are going to land and take off from.

[Emily Kwong]

Like in the Avengers. Like in Stark Tower.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, in the city. Right. This has already happened in la. So some existing skyscrapers have helipads. Right. So if those can be modified for air taxis, for air Taxis, then it's like, pretty cool, right? It's, it's easy to have this infrastructure easier. And in other places, they're building new, shorter buildings with big, wide, flat roofs for air taxis to land on. Joby is currently working with partners all around the world to either modify these other helipads that exist or build these small buildings.

[Emily Kwong]

This whole enterprise is much more expansive than I imagined. Um, can you describe what a commercial ride would look like? Gina, this is tech camp. Take us to the future. You and I are going to order a Sky Uber. How does it work?

[Regina Barber]

Right, so let's say you're in East LA at my grandma's house or my

[Emily Kwong]

uncle's house in Pasadena.

[Regina Barber]

Right. And you need to get to lax.

[Emily Kwong]

Yeah.

[Bonnie Simi]

So you open up your Uber app and you know, you've got Uber X and Uber XL and Uber Pet. And now there'll be Uber Air.

[Regina Barber]

Uber Air, Yeah. So the app will tell you, hey, there's a vertiport that's only 15 minutes away if you want to take an air taxi. So you select that. And while the car is on its way to get you, it tells the system, get the aircraft ready.

[Bonnie Simi]

So the Uber then brings you to the vertiport. You walk in through the door. We already know who you are because you're already part of the system. And then you walk right onto the aircraft. So the whole thing's seamless. You don't have to think about it.

[Regina Barber]

There are no TSA lines here, but it's a rideshare.

[Emily Kwong]

I have so many questions about the safety of this, but again, in this, like, futurist scenario, the pilot just takes you where you need to go.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah. And then eventually they'll be self driving, no taxes, no pilot, no pilots. So the Georgia Tech project I mentioned earlier, that's a project to develop autonomous aircraft, although those are going to face a lot more hurdles in the regulation process. The people I spoke to told me that that's at least a few years off.

[Emily Kwong]

Yeah, I should hope so. Human beings are very precious cargo. I am thinking about how there is a lot of congestion already in US Airspace with so many planes up in the air. There have been, there's been an increase in midair collisions over some airports. Do we really need air taxis?

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, these are all good questions. Airspace infrastructure. What's interesting is I brought up this issue of congestion and the question of whether it would be more worth it to invest this type of money into public transit or. Or building more, you know, railways.

[Emily Kwong]

Right. High speed trains, subway lines, metro centers. Et cetera.

[Bonnie Simi]

Yeah.

[Regina Barber]

So the experts I talked to for the story, they view this, you know, the air taxis as a complement to existing public transit. And this can be done in large part by modifying and scaling existing helipads rather than investing in major infrastructure projects. This would be in places where they think the initial audience for these air taxis are people who are taking Ubers and other ride shares instead of public transit. To this end, the FAA sent me guidance they've worked up for how to mod and scale existing helipads.

[Emily Kwong]

I think what remains to be seen is just the demand this will get from regular folks from people like you and me. Yeah.

[Regina Barber]

So, em, I totally hear you. And like most people don't even know these companies exist.

[Emily Kwong]

I didn't know this was a thing until you brought it up.

[Regina Barber]

Right, right. But the facts are they're building the infrastructure now. And that's maybe the most important point, is that air taxis are coming.

[Emily Kwong]

Gina Barber, thank you for awakening us to the fact that we are already living in the era of the Jetsons. We are, and just maybe need to open our eyes to it.

[Regina Barber]

Would you order an Uber Air with me?

[Emily Kwong]

Absolutely not. I would wave hi to you from the ground. All right, for more science stories just like these, follow Short Wave on the NPR app or wherever else you are listening from. Also, if you know a friend who is obsessed with the idea of flying cars, like maybe wants to take a ride with Gina while I wait. To you both from the ground, please share this episode with them. Make their day. This episode was produced by Hannah Chin and Rachel Carlson. It was edited by our showrunner, Rebecca Ramirez. Tyler Jones checked the facts.

[Regina Barber]

Jimmy Keeley was the audio engineer. I'm Regina Barber.

[Emily Kwong]

I'm Emily Kwong. Thank you for listening to Short Wave, the science podcast from npr.

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[Emily Kwong]

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