Porsche and Boeing are forming a partnership to explore premium urban air mobility market. The two companies have just signed a Memorandum of Understanding, as announced on October 10, 2019, under which they agreed to create a joint team “to address” aspects such as the possible use cases of premium vehicles and the market potential.
Porsche Engineering Services and Studio FA Porsche, together with Boeing and its subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences are already working on a fully electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (eVTOL) concept, with hopes to implement and test a prototype.
Porsche is interested in the perspective of moving to “the third dimension of travel”, according to the company’s Executive Board Member Detlev von Platen as quoted in a statement.
Boeing is already working towards urban air mobility solution. For instance, in January 2019, Boeing NeXt, in cooperation with Aurora Flight Sciences, began testing an autonomous passenger air vehicle, also dubbed as Boeing Flying Taxi, prototype. Besides the passenger air vehicle (PAV) prototype, Boeing is also working on a cargo version, capable to transport up to 500 pounds (226.80 kilograms). The indoor flight testing of the latter vehicle began in 2018.
Take a look at Boeing’s PAV here: