Wisk Aero, a Boeing subsidiary developing a pilotless electric air taxi, has partnered with NASA to explore how autonomous aircraft can safely integrate with the National Airspace System under instrument flight rules (IFR).
The California-based aircraft developer has been working with NASA since 2020 when it joined the agency’s Advanced Air Mobility National Campaign, an initiative meant to facilitate the integration of air taxis, cargo drones, and other novel types of aircraft. Meanwhile, the company has been developing its own autonomous, four-passenger eVTOL aircraft designed to fly in urban settings without pilots on board.
Wisk’s expanded partnership with NASA will support research led by the agency’s Air Traffic Management Exploration (ATM-X) project. Under a five-year Space Act Agreement, which Wisk announced on May 20, the company will collaborate with NASA’s Ames Research Center on “research, testing, and operational validation of remotely supervised operations with increasing levels of automation,” as well as “automation testing and assessment leveraging ATC emulation and surrogate aircraft,” according to NASA.
The company’s contributions to the ATM-X project will focus on advanced simulation and live virtual constructive (LVC) flight environments, which combine simulated airspace with real-world flight operations. According to Wisk, this work will inform routes, safety system requirements, and air traffic control communications protocols for highly automated urban air mobility (UAM) operations.
“This new, long-term agreement with NASA is a significant step forward for Wisk and the broader UAM industry,” said Erick Corona, director of airspace operational integration at Wisk. “With NASA’s simulation and LVC capabilities, we can accelerate the development of our Gen 6 autonomous systems to safely and efficiently integrate into the U.S. NAS before the end of the decade.”
Last month, Wisk and NASA held a workshop in Oklahoma City to discuss “how instrument flight procedures and advanced technologies would work hand-in-hand to enable safe and efficient autonomous passenger flight,” according to Wisk.
The Gen 6 aircraft is Wisk’s sixth-generation eVTOL aircraft and its first full-scale prototype. Having completed more than 1,750 test flights with earlier subscale prototypes, Wisk is now preparing for the first flights of the Gen 6, which it unveiled in 2022. Wisk intends for the aircraft to be certified for operations in IFR conditions.