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Companies Envision Taxis Flying above Jammed Traffic

Companies such as Archer Aviation, whose eVTOL aircraft is seen here, are working on electric-powered aircraft that take off and land vertically like helicopters. (AFP)
Companies such as Archer Aviation, whose eVTOL aircraft is seen here, are working on electric-powered aircraft that take off and land vertically like helicopters. (AFP)
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Companies Envision Taxis Flying above Jammed Traffic

Companies such as Archer Aviation, whose eVTOL aircraft is seen here, are working on electric-powered aircraft that take off and land vertically like helicopters. (AFP)
Companies such as Archer Aviation, whose eVTOL aircraft is seen here, are working on electric-powered aircraft that take off and land vertically like helicopters. (AFP)

As urban traffic gets more miserable, entrepreneurs are looking to a future in which commuters hop into "air taxis" that whisk them over clogged roads.

Companies such as Archer, Joby and Wisk are working on electric-powered aircraft that take off and land vertically like helicopters then propel forward like planes.

"'The Jetsons' is definitely a reference that people make a lot when trying to contextualize what we are doing," Archer Vice President Louise Bristow told AFP, referring to a 1960s animated comedy about a family living in a high-tech future.

"The easiest way to think about it is a flying car, but that's not what we're doing."

What Archer envisions is an age of aerial ride-sharing, an "Uber or Lyft of the skies," Bristow said.

Neighborhood parking garage rooftops or shopping mall lots could serve as departure or arrival pads for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

Commuters would make it the rest of the way however they wish, even syncing trips with car rideshare services such as Uber which owns a stake in Santa Cruz, California-based Joby.

Joby executives said on a recent earnings call that its first production model aircraft should be in the skies later this year.

That comes despite a Joby prototype crashing early this year while being tested at speeds and altitudes far greater than it would have to handle as part of an air taxi fleet.

Joby has declined to discuss details of the remotely piloted aircraft's crash, which occurred in an uninhabited area, saying it is waiting for US aviation regulators to finish an investigation.

"We were at the end of the flight test expansion campaign at test points well above what we expect to see in normal operations," Joby executive chairman Paul Sciarra told analysts.

"I'm really excited about where we are right now; we have demonstrated the full performance of our aircraft."

Its eVTOL aircraft have a maximum range of 150 miles (241 kilometers), a top speed of 200 miles per hour and a "low noise profile" to avoid an annoying din, the company said.

Joby has announced partnerships with SK Telecom and the TMAP mobility platform in South Korea to provide emissions-free aerial ridesharing.

"By cooperating with Joby, TMAP will become a platform operator that can offer a seamless transportation service between the ground and the sky," TMAP chief executive Lee Jong Ho said in a release.

Joby has also announced a partnership with Japanese airline ANA to launch air taxi service in Japan.

And Toyota has additionally joined the alliance, with an aim to explore adding ground transportation to such a service there, Joby said.

Rethinking required
Hurdles on the path include establishing infrastructure and adapting attitudes to make air taxis a part of everyday life.

"For mass adoption, people need to have a mindset change," Bristow said.

"Getting people to want to travel in a different way will take some rethinking."

The need for the change, though, is clear, she reasoned.

Roads are congested with traffic that wastes time, frays nerves and spews pollution.

"There is nowhere else for traffic to go," Bristow said.

"You have to go up."

Miami and Los Angeles are already exploring the potential of aerial ridesharing, and Archer is hoping to have a small air taxi service operating in at least one of those cities by the end of 2024.

"It's a monumental task that we're taking on," Bristow said.

"It's going to take a while before the infrastructure supports the mass expansion of what we're trying to do."

Archer last month announced that it teamed with United Airlines to create an eVTOL advisory committee.

The US airline has pre-ordered 200 Archer aircraft with an eye toward using them for "last-mile" transportation from airports, Bristow told AFP.

"Imagine flying from London to Newark, New Jersey, then getting in an Archer and being deposited somewhere in Manhattan," Bristow said.

More time for life
Silicon Valley startup Xwing specializes in making standard aircraft capable of flying safely without pilots, with an aim of turning commuting by air into a cheaper and more efficient way to travel.

"We're strong believers here that the industry is going through a pretty dramatic transformation," Xwing chief and founder Marc Piette told AFP.

"In a few years you'll start seeing taxi networks of electric aircrafts regionally or on long hauls and it's going to be quite a different landscape."

Thousands of regional airports used mostly for recreation could become part of aerial commute networks, air mobility consultant Scott Drennan told AFP.

To Drennan, the primary reason for taking to the skies is to "give people back their time."

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Technology

The ‘Worst in Show’ CES Products Put Your Data at Risk and Cause Waste

The Ultrahuman Rare luxury smart ring is on display at the Ultrahuman booth during the CES tech show Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
The Ultrahuman Rare luxury smart ring is on display at the Ultrahuman booth during the CES tech show Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
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The ‘Worst in Show’ CES Products Put Your Data at Risk and Cause Waste

The Ultrahuman Rare luxury smart ring is on display at the Ultrahuman booth during the CES tech show Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
The Ultrahuman Rare luxury smart ring is on display at the Ultrahuman booth during the CES tech show Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

So much of the technology showcased at CES includes gadgets made to improve consumers' lives — whether by leveraging AI to make devices that help people become more efficient, by creating companions to cure loneliness or by providing tools that help people with mental and physical health.
But not all innovation is good, according to a panel of self-described dystopia experts that has judged some products as “Worst in Show." The award that no company wants to win calls out the “least repairable, least private, and least sustainable products on display."
“We’re seeing more and more of these things that have basically surveillance technology built into them, and it enables some cool things,” Liz Chamberlain, director of sustainability at the e-commerce site iFixit told The Associated Press. “But it also means that now we’ve got microphones and cameras in our washing machines, refrigerators and that really is an industry-wide problem.”
The fourth annual contest announced its decisions Thursday.
A new smart ring every few years? Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit, awarded the Ultrahuman Rare Luxury Smart Ring the title of “least repairable.”
The rings, which come in colors like dune and desert sand, cost $2,200. Wiens said the jewelry “looks sleek but hides a major flaw: its battery only lasts 500 charges.” Worse, he said, is the fact that replacing the battery is impossible without destroying the device entirely.
“Luxury items may be fleeting, but two years of use for $2,200 is a new low,” he said.
An AI-powered smart crib? Bosch’s “Revol” crib uses sensors, cameras and AI that the company says can help monitor vital signs like how an infant is sleeping, their heart and respiratory rates and more. The crib can also rock gently if the baby needs help falling asleep and signal to parents if a blanket or other object is interfering with breathing.
The company says users can how and where their data is stored. Bosch also says the crib can be transformed into a desk as children get older.
But EFF Executive Director Cindy Cohn said the crib preys on parents' fears and “collects excessive data about babies via a camera, microphone, and even a radar sensor.”
“Parents expect safety and comfort — not surveillance and privacy risks — in their children’s cribs,” she said in the report.
Too much waste? Although AI is everywhere at CES, Stacey Higginbotham, a policy Fellow at Consumer Reports, felt that SoundHound AI’s In-Car Commerce Ecosystem, powered by its Automotive AI, pushes it to unnecessary extremes.
The feature “increases energy consumption, encourages wasteful takeout consumption and distracts drivers—all while adding little value,” Higginbotham said. That landed the in-car system as “least sustainable” on the list.
Vulnerable to hacking TP-Link's Archer BE900 router won for “least secure” of CES. The company is a top-selling router brand in the US But its products are vulnerable to hacking, said Paul Roberts, founder of The Security Ledger.
"By Chinese law, TP-Link must report security flaws to the government before alerting the public, creating a significant national security risk," he said. “Yet TP-Link showcased its Archer BE900 router at CES without addressing these vulnerabilities.”
Who asked for this? The awards also feature a category called “who asked for this?” Top of that list was Samsung's Bespoke AI Washing Machine, which Nathan Proctor, senior director of US PIRG, a consumer advocacy group, said is filled “with features no one needs,” including the ability to make phone calls.
“These add-ons only make the appliance more expensive, fragile, and harder to repair,” he said.
The worst overall Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of The Repair Association called the LG “AI Home Inside 2.0 Refrigerator with ThinkQ” the worst product overall. The fridge adds “flashy features,” Gordon-Byrne said, including a screen and internet connection.
“But these come at a cost,” Gordon-Byrne said. “Shorter software support, higher energy consumption, and expensive repairs reduce the fridge’s practical lifespan, leaving consumers with an expensive, wasteful gadget.”