While Australia's Airspeeder is yet to race its sporty eVTOLs with pilots at the controls, Jetson's founder and CTO Tomasz Patan has taken its One flyer to the air for what's been billed as the birth of the world's first eVTOL air racing.
Airspeeder is aiming to set up world championship races using its own striking crewed eVTOL (electric Vertical Take-off and Landing) aircraft, and has been building up momentum since abandoning a Kickstarter to raise funds and interest in 2017.
But though its prototypes have been flying for a while now, and championships have been held, the pilots have controlled their racers remotely from the safety of terra firma. Now, following an earlier demonstration of agility, Jetson has beaten the air racing pioneers to the punch. Kind of.
"This is exactly what the Jetson One was built for – delivering unmatched performance, agility, and adrenaline," reads the blurb accompanying the video. "It empowers pilots to master the art of Air Racing."
As you can see, Patan navigates the One flyer around a 26-ft-tall (8-m) pylon to preview the racing potential of the personal eVTOL. Though this hardly qualifies as a race itself – as there was only one aircraft zipping above the adhoc arena, and only one pylon on the field – it's yet another demonstration of the nimble flying chops of the "first affordable eVTOL on the market."
With sales already confirmed for more than 470 units, the company reports that it's now taking orders for the 2026 batch of Jetson One eVTOLs. If you're prepared to wait, you'll need to shell out a non-refundable deposit of US$8,000 to reserve your place in line – and then stump up another $120k when your flyer is ready to ship.
The 8.86 x 5.25 x 3.67-ft (2,700 x 1,600 x 1,120-mm) multi-rotor aircraft promises a software-limited top speed of 63 mph (102 km/h) and a 20-minute per-charge flight time from its "high discharge" Li-ion batteries.
The "formula one racing car in the sky" is controlled using a joystick, looks to be agile and responsive if the video evidence is anything to go by, can rise to more than 1,500 ft (~460 m), and a pilot's license is not required in the US.
"We believe Jetson ONE plays a role in changing public opinion on eVTOL," said Patan. "We bridge the gap between sci-fi and reality and most importantly we do not show renderings, we have a working product.”
Source: Jetson
