U.S: Wisk Aero, Houston Airports Collaborate “to Deliver Autonomous Air Taxis to Greater Houston Area”

Wisk Aero has signed a Mem­o­ran­dum of Under­stand­ing (MOU) with Hous­ton Air­ports (HA) to deliv­er autonomous air taxis to the Greater Hous­ton area, reports a press release. The agree­ment assists on-going plans to bring a new form of air trans­porta­tion to Texas.

Wisk will part­ner with HA to iden­ti­fy and assess poten­tial loca­tions for the devel­op­ment of ver­ti­port infra­struc­ture at:-

: George Bush Inter­con­ti­nen­tal Air­port (IAH). 

: William P. Hob­by Air­port (HOU).

: Elling­ton Air­port (EFD).

Wisk’s 6th Gen­er­a­tion air­craft is autonomous mak­ing it dif­fer­ent to the major­i­ty of pilot­ed eVTOLs being devel­oped in the U.S. Each flight is super­vised from the ground and is non-pilot­ed.

Hous­ton Air­ports

Bri­an Yutko, CEO at Wisk, com­ment­ed, “Our part­ner­ship with Hous­ton Air­ports solid­i­fies Wisk’s com­mit­ment to cre­at­ing new and effi­cient ways to trav­el with­in the Greater Hous­ton area and fur­thers our rela­tion­ship with infra­struc­ture and reg­u­la­to­ry part­ners in the region.”

He con­tin­ued, “Texas is quick­ly becom­ing a leader not only in Advanced Air mobil­i­ty (AAM), but ush­er­ing in safe, autonomous flight in the Unit­ed States. Con­nect­ing sub­urbs busi­ness cen­tres and prime tourist des­ti­na­tions through autonomous, sus­tain­able air trav­el will cre­ate a new form of urban mobil­i­ty and have great eco­nom­ic and work­force impacts, sup­port­ing the growth of the Hous­ton area.”

The release explains, “Over the next 12 months, the part­ners will work togeth­er to devel­op infra­struc­ture, routes and col­lab­o­rate with the com­mu­ni­ty, while con­tin­u­ing con­ver­sa­tions with the FAA. Ear­li­er this year Wisk entered into a part­ner­ship with the City of Sug­ar Land to bring autonomous air taxis to the region.”

It goes on, “HA will focus on inte­grat­ing AAM into its long-term plans, cham­pi­oning com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment and estab­lish­ing oper­a­tional pol­i­cy, such as infra­struc­ture per­mit­ting and noise lev­els. Wisk will pro­vide exper­tise on tech­ni­cal needs for autonomous eVTOL oper­a­tions, includ­ing infra­struc­ture, train­ing, ground oper­a­tional pro­ce­dures and plans for poten­tial site expan­sion. Togeth­er, they will explore incor­po­rat­ing main­te­nance and train­ing facil­i­ties in Hous­ton.”

Hous­ton May­or John Whit­mire, remarked, “Dur­ing my time in the Texas sen­ate, I vot­ed for leg­is­la­tion sup­port­ing AAM. This pub­lic-pri­vate part­ner­ship marks a sig­nif­i­cant step for­ward for the city as we invest in inno­v­a­tive and sus­tain­able modes of air trans­porta­tion. The col­lab­o­ra­tion under­scores our com­mit­ment to pio­neer advance­ments that will shape the future of urban mobil­i­ty.”

Jim Szczes­ni­ak, Direc­tor of Avi­a­tion for Hous­ton Air­ports, said, “Hous­ton is at the fore­front of avi­a­tion and aero­space inno­va­tion, so it is only fit­ting that Hous­ton Air­ports take the first steps to explore the next gen­er­a­tion of air trans­porta­tion.”

Jim Szczes­ni­ak

He con­tin­ued, “Our col­lab­o­ra­tion rep­re­sents a bold step towards rev­o­lu­tion­is­ing air mobil­i­ty not just with­in our city, but across the entire Greater Hous­ton region. As a hub of busi­ness and progress, the city is the ide­al start­ing point for advance­ments in autonomous air trav­el, as the ideas, infra­struc­ture and inno­va­tion stand to ben­e­fit res­i­dents, tourists and the busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty.” Adding, “This part­ner­ship with Wisk aligns with our vision to cre­ate a 5‑Star glob­al air ser­vice gate­way where the mag­ic of flight is cel­e­brat­ed.” 

For more infor­ma­tion

https:/wisk.aero/

https://www.fly2houston.com

(Top image: Wisk Aero)

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