Video Transcript
A Boeing-owned developer of autonomous electric aircraft hopes to establish a hub in the Houston metro area, company officials recently announced.
Under a new partnership between Wisk Aero and the city of Sugar Land, Texas, officials from the company and suburb will assess and identify a location at Sugar Land Regional Airport that could house a “vertiport” — a complex that would accommodate Wisk’s autonomous, electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) air taxis.
Wisk officials highlighted Sugar Land’s “strategic” location in Southeast Texas, as well as credited its “forward-thinking” municipal leadership for its effort to become an “early leader” in the air mobility sector. The company vowed to work with local stakeholders and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in developing the vertiport, which would become the foundation for a broader air taxi network throughout the Houston area.
Under the partnership, Wisk will provide guidance on a range of technical matters, from infrastructure and site planning to ground procedures and training. The city, meanwhile, would include air mobility in its long-term planning processes and address permitting, noise levels, and other regulatory matters.
The partners also plan to collaborate with other municipal and aerospace leaders in the region on potential sites in a regional air taxi network.
Wisk hopes to debut an autonomous taxi service in the Houston area by 2030. The company has also singled out Los Angeles and Brisbane, Australia, for its air mobility hubs.
