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Boeing throws its weight behind Larry Page's flying taxi startup

By Nick Lavars
June 26, 2019
Boeing throws its weight behind Larry Page's flying taxi startup
Kitty Hawk first showed off its Cora aircraft last year and now Boeing has come onboard
Kitty Hawk first showed off its Cora aircraft last year and now Boeing has come onboard
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Kitty Hawk first showed off its Cora aircraft last year and now Boeing has come onboard
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Kitty Hawk first showed off its Cora aircraft last year and now Boeing has come onboard
Cora can hit speeds of 110 mph (180 km/h)
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Cora can hit speeds of 110 mph (180 km/h)
Kitty Hawk says its Cora aircraft can cover 62 miles per charge
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Kitty Hawk says its Cora aircraft can cover 62 miles per charge
Kitty Hawk first showed off its Cora aircraft last year
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Kitty Hawk first showed off its Cora aircraft last year
Kitty Hawk says its Cora aircraft can cover 62 miles per charge
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Kitty Hawk says its Cora aircraft can cover 62 miles per charge
Cora in the hangar
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Cora in the hangar
Cora is a two-seater short hop electric aircraft that uses 12 propellors mounted on its wings to take off vertically
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Cora is a two-seater short hop electric aircraft that uses 12 propellors mounted on its wings to take off vertically
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With the backing of Google co-founder Larry Page, California-based startup Kitty Hawk already has some noteworthy names attached to its flying taxi endeavors. And it has now found another in heavyweight Boeing, with the industry veteran teaming up with its fresh-faced counterpart to accelerate the age of electric aviation.

Kitty Hawk first showed off its Cora aircraft last year, detailing a two-seater short hop electric plane that uses 12 propellors mounted on its wings to take off vertically, and then a single prop at the rear for horizontal flight. The company says the aircraft can cover around 62 miles (100 km) per charge of its battery and hit speeds of 110 mph (180 km/h).

The division behind Cora has now entered a strategic partnership with Boeing, with the two to work together on advancing "safe urban air mobility."

Kitty Hawk says its Cora aircraft can cover 62 miles per charge
Kitty Hawk says its Cora aircraft can cover 62 miles per charge

Boeing already has its fingers in a number of flying taxi-flavored pies, including its own in-house electric VTOL aircraft, a recent acquisition of electric aircraft company Aurora, and its US$2 million contest to build a personal flying machine.

"Working with a company like Kitty Hawk brings us closer to our goal of safely advancing the future of mobility," says Steve Nordlund, vice president and general manager of Boeing NeXt. "We have a shared vision of how people, goods and ideas will be transported in the future, as well as the safety and regulatory ecosystem that will underpin that transportation."

Source: Boeing

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10 comments
Nick Lavars
Nick Lavars
Nick has been writing and editing at New Atlas for over six years, where he has covered everything from distant space probes to self-driving cars to oddball animal science. He previously spent time at The Conversation, Mashable and The Santiago Times, earning a Masters degree in communications from Melbourne’s RMIT University along the way.

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Deres
The issue with all those "air mobility" concept is the noise. That they can fly is sure, that they can be safe has to be shown and mostly that they would make far less noise than an helicopter (including an electric one) has to be proven. Without a drastic decrease of noise I do not think they can be very usefull.
anthony88
If only it were possible to reduce the number of propellors, say down to two: one big one to provide lift and forward motion, and another to maintain directional stability...
Towerman
I sometimes wonder who and how they make their decisions...??? this thing looks way cluttered and inneficient, I would've like to see them partner with SKAI ! ! !
ei3io
Any design where extra weight and mass frontal area with all the drag it creates, is a no win for the efficient future. Skai is the only eVTOL that wisely uses hydrogen fuel cells which absolutely are the coming future for any medium to long distance convenience and safety in eVTOL.
Signguy
Deres: I seem to remember seeing pictures and hearing sound from stealth helicopters, so maybe that could be applied to this vehicle?
paul314
So my guess is that this thing costs 10-50 times as much as the cars that people use as conventional taxis. So the target market is passengers who can pay, say, 5-20 times as much for each taxi ride?
Vanilla Cat
Anthony, great comment! Seriously, why are they trying to redesign the helicopter with 84 rotors all over the place rather than the one rotor (or two for coaxial design) used already. These designs are certainly inelegant aren't they.
Nelson Hyde Chick
Flying taxis will make the urban environment exponentially louder, but not to worry, the wealthy will be the ones flying overhead while us peons can just use earplugs.
Towerman
Exactly ei3io
@Anthony88 Boeing already has that kind of copter, it's just a glorified helicopter, Yes it is fast, but over complicated and bulky not to mention a maintenance hog.
@vanillacat
While i am not in favor of this particular design at all as evident in my post above, something like the Skai or the City Airbus hits the nail on the dot hands down ! ! !
It's not about helicopters vs Multicopter. There is room for both types, they forfill different roles, but since you are trying to compare the two.
First it's about mobility, these things can land in smaller areas than a conventional mammoth blade helicopters (again a helicopter has it's place but a multi cabn forfill a niche which helicopters simply cannot !
Second, with the appropriate use of advance prop designs, mainly aucustically sound reducing trirotor or 4 rotor blades,
These copters are just not as noisy.
A Helicopter produces an insane amount of noise compared to a multicopter ! And they have been flying since... forever !
Thirdly reducing maintenance.
If a multicopter motor fails,( it would by a very rare instance to begin with, same wrt an esc or battery, it would be changeable in under 10 minutes ! ! ! Increasing your up time and Profits ! !
Where as a helicopter have a complicated turbine engine, with a complicated gearbox and linkages, that needs to be vigilantly inspected consistently.
With Multirotors the main thing you will be changing is simply the bearings, how awesome is that ! ! !
Towerman
Spell check "a multi cabn"
I meant to say a "multi can" ie "a multicopter can"