Wisk’s chief marketing officer said the autonomous eVTOL company currently has the first of its Gen 6 four-seat air taxis under construction and plans to fly a test article next year. Wisk is wholly owned by Boeing.
Rebecca Tanner said the company had already applied for its FAA type certificate and was well on its way to completing the G1 and G2 requirements of that process. The Gen 6 mockup on display this week at NBAA-BACE is fitted with a luggage compartment in the nose with room for four roller bags and passenger conveniences, including air conditioning and USB charging ports.
Tanner said performance goals for the all-electric aircraft include a range of 90 miles, a cruising speed of 100 to 120 mph, full fast-charging in 15 minutes, and a service ceiling of 4,000 feet. While the aircraft will be IFR certified, it will not be approved for flights into known icing conditions.
The aircraft features 12 main rotors, including six on the forward section of the wing that tilt up and down for takeoff and landing. It is also equipped with skid gear, as opposed to wheels, to save weight. Unlike the Gen 5 aircraft, it does not feature an aft propulsor. Thrust comes strictly from the forward rotors.
According to Tanner, the Wisk Gen 6 would be flown by a ground-based “remote vehicle supervisor” and passengers would be able to proactively communicate with Wisk personnel during flights via a button and individual touchscreens at each seat location. Passengers would be assisted onto and off the aircraft by Wisk ground personnel.
The vehicle itself features triple-redundant systems and advanced sensor technology, and it can fly with multiple motors inoperative. Tanner said Wisk is building its own air-cooled motors and drivetrain components for the aircraft, and its cabin would be rapidly reconfigurable with possible applications for cargo and air ambulance.
Over the last decade, Gen 1 to 5 Wisk flight-test vehicles have amassed 1,600 flight hours. The Gen 5 aircraft continues to be used for fully autonomous flight testing and public demonstration flights, including earlier this year at EAA AirVenture, and it has been performing test flights at the Long Beach (California) Airport (KLGB) since the beginning of this month.
The Gen 6 prototype aircraft will be built at the company’s main facility near San Francisco. Tanner shared that Wisk would have an announcement regarding the location of a serial production facility within the coming months, but it will not be in California. She added that Wisk is aiming to begin commercial service within the decade and anticipated production “in the thousands.”