Atea by Ascendance Flight Technologies
Mindful of the broken promises, endless technical obstacles and increasingly wary public perception of the autonomous car, the eVTOL industry knows it has to run a marathon, not a sprint, in order to bring these services to market. That said, autonomous flying is theoretically easier to compute than the infinite complexity of the terrestrial road system. It’s just that mistakes are rather more costly.
eVTOL’s golden promise is point-to-point, short-hop travel, providing the connective glue within a wider network of long-haul flights and high-speed rail. Here is a selection of new aircraft hoping to be contenders for the air taxi of the future.The Atea is a five-seater hybrid eVTOL aircraft, designed and developed by the Toulouse-based Ascendance Flight Technologies. Currently in prototype stage, the company hopes to enter service in 2026.