Air Taxis

America's leading eVTOL company has received Part 135 certification from the FAA, so it can now begin offering on-demand commercial air taxi operations. Not with its eVTOL aircraft, mind you – that's still a long way from being type approved.

Shanghai's TCab Tech has become one of China's leading eVTOL contenders, claiming it's now made many test flights validating its 50-percent scale prototype air taxi design in vertical lift and hover mode, as well as transitions to winged cruise flight.

eVTOL makers say these electric air taxis will be so much quieter than helicopters that they'll be able to put hundreds of them in the air without annoying city residents. Well, let's see – Joby Aviation and NASA have released acoustic test figures.

Joby has announced it's back in the air after crashing one of its two eVTOL prototypes during testing in February. The company says it's continued making progress on multiple fronts of the labyrinthine task of FAA certification during its downtime.

Japanese eVTOL company SkyDrive has announced it's going into partnership with Suzuki, as it works toward the development and full-scale production of a "compact, two-seating electric-powered flying car," which it hopes to debut at the Osaka World Expo in 2025.

The emerging eVTOL industry is drawing in enormous investment money on the promise of clean, cheap, quiet electric air taxis – but it all started with a NASA engineer's research project back in 2009. Enjoy a look back at some of our early coverage.

Joby Aviation has announced an accident during flight testing of its market-leading eVTOL aircraft prototype. Flight tracking data appears to show the aircraft was being pushed over 270 mph, well beyond its advertised top speed of 200 mph.

Chinese eVTOL company Autoflight has released video of its first unmanned transition flight, moving from vertical lift to wing-supported cruise at speed. The video is a perfect demonstration of the common "lift & cruise" style of eVTOL design.

Odys is developing a remarkable nine-seat hybrid-electric VTOL targeted at long-range, high-speed regional travel rather than urban air taxi duties. Co-founder James Dorris explains this unique diamond box-wing aircraft and its blown-flap VTOL system.

When it comes the the eVTOLs Joby Aviation is making as many moves as anyone, and its latest centers on new mobility options for the people of Japan, with plans to establish a local aerial ridesharing service with the country's largest airline.

Czech eVTOL startup Zuri came to our attention last year when it began hover tests of a long-range, hybrid-powered lift and cruise style aircraft. Today, the company unveiled its second-gen design, with a totally different tilting propulsion system.

Joby Aviation has continued expanding the envelope on its S4 electric air taxi prototypes, and on Friday the California company registered what it believes is the fastest eVTOL test flight in history, hitting a true airspeed of 205 mph (330 km/h).