Boeing has assumed full ownership of eVTOL aircraft developer Wisk Aero, which had been run as a joint venture with Kitty Hawk, an advanced mobility startup formed by Google co-founder Larry Page and Google executive Sebastian Thrun. Speaking at a media briefing in South Carolina on May 31, Wisk CEO Brian Yutko announced the change of ownership while not providing any details about financial terms for the transaction between Boeing and its former partners.
Kitty Hawk, which had been working on the Heaviside autonomous eVTOL vehicle, closed down in September 2022. At the time, Wisk said that the move did not impact its ownership and that Kitty Hawk’s backers would remain investors in its plans to bring a four-seat, passenger-carrying autonomous eVTOL vehicle to market later in this decade.
As a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Boeing group, Wisk will continue to operate as an independent company with oversight by the Boeing board. A spokesman told AIN that Boeing will continue to provide additional support through access to talent and expertise.
Boeing is now focusing most of its efforts to break into the advanced air mobility sector on Wisk, having made a $450 million investment in the company in early 2022. Its rival, Airbus, is developing the CityAirbus NextGen four-passenger eVTOL.
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