JoeBen Bevirt was a young boy in 1980s making long, tedious journeys between his school and the wooded home he had in the mountains. He began to fantasize of flying cars that would whisk him there in minutes.

Bevirt is on his way to making his boyhood dreams come true. He and the modern Wright Brothers are launching a new class electric-powered aircraft that will compete to become taxis.

The aircraft, also known as an “electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle” (eVTOL), lifts off the ground like helicopters before flying at speeds of up to 200 miles per hours (322 kilometers per hr) with a distance of approximately 100 miles (161 km). These aircraft do this without causing the excessive noise that fuel-powered helicopters or small airplanes cause.

“We’re just a few feet away from the finish.”

Bevirt, 51 told The Associated Press that he wanted to reduce the time it takes for one- and two hour trips to five minutes.

Archer Aviation of Silicon Valley, a Silicon Valley based Silicon Valley company backed Stellantis Auto and United Airlines has been testing eTVOLs on farmland near Salinas in California. In November last year, a prototype named “Midnight”, could be seen gliding overhead a tractor plowing a field.

The tests are a part of the journey Joby Aviation is taking with other ambitious companies who have collectively raised billions to make flying cars more than just a fantasy popularised in 1960s cartoons “The Jetsons”, and the 1982 sci-fi film, “Blade Runner”.

Archer Aviation and Wisk Aero, both of which have ties with aerospace giant Boeing Co. as well as Google co-founder Larry Page are also in the forefront of the race to bring air cabs to the United States market. Joby already has a partnership in place to connect their air taxis to Delta Air Lines customers, while Archer Aviation has a deal lined up to sell up 200 of its aircrafts to United Airlines.

Flying taxis made enough regulatory progress with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration that they created a new category of aircraft called “powered lift” – a move the agency had not taken since the introduction of helicopters for civilian use back in the 1940s.

Dubai is most likely to be the first place to see commercial flights of eVTOLs, possibly by the end the year.

Adam Lim, Director of Alton Aviation Consultancy (a firm that tracks the industry’s development) said: “It’s tricky to develop an entirely new class.” “It will be like crawl, walk, and run.” I think that we are still crawling. “We are not going to see the Jetsons-type of reality where everyone will fly around everywhere in the next 2 to 3 years.”

China is also working to make flying vehicles a reality. This quest has piqued Donald Trump’s curiosity about making these vehicles a top priority for his administration in the next four-year period.

Within the next few years, if the ambitions and dreams of eVTOL pioneers in the U.S. are realized, people will have the option to take an air taxi from and to airports in New York and Los Angeles.

Joby plans to transport four Delta Air Lines passengers in its electric taxis from New York’s area airports directly to Manhattan, all within a 10 minute time frame. Air taxi prices will start out higher than the cost of a cab ride or Uber from JFK to Manhattan. However, the price difference could shrink over time as eVTOLs are able to carry more passengers.

Adam Goldstein, CEO at Archer Aviation in San Jose, California, predicted that “you’ll see highways in space” during an interview.

“There will hundreds, perhaps thousands of these planes flying in these individual city and it will really change the way that cities are being constructed.”

Investors bet on Goldstein’s rightness, helping Archer raise USD430 million from a group including Stellantis and United Airlines late last year. The infusion of funds came just a few months after a Japanese carmaker invested another USD500 in Joby, bringing its total investment to nearly USD900.

Alton Aviation reported that these investments were part USD13 billion raised by eTVOL companies in the past five year period.

Both Joby Aviation & Archer Aviation went public by reverse mergers in 2021. This provided a new avenue for fundraising and made it easier for engineers to be recruited with stock options. Both companies have been successful in attracting workers from rocket maker SpaceX, electric automaker Tesla, and, in Archer’s case, Wisk Aero.

The Wisk defections triggered a suit accusing Archer Intellectual Property theft in a dispute which was settled with a 2023 settlement, which included an agreement that the two sides would collaborate on certain aspects of eTVOL Technology.

Joby, which was formerly known as Uber, acquired the eTVOL technology from Uber before going public. The USD83 million transaction brought these two companies together.

But the losses continue to mount at the companies developing flying cars, despite the technological advances and deals. Joby’s roots date back to Bevirt founding the company in 2009. Since then, Joby has lost USD1.6 billion, while Archer, founded in 2018, has lost USD1.5 billion.

Joby, like Archer, is trying to earn money by negotiating contracts with the U.S. Army to use eTVOLs to deliver packages and for other short-range mission. Archer has formed a partnership with Anduril, a military technology specialist founded by Palmer Luckey who invented the Oculus headset, to help win deals.

Both companies have relatively low market valuations compared to the tech industry, with Joby’s at USD7 billion and Archer’s at USD6 billion.

Bevirt is optimistic. “eVTOLs have the potential to change the way people move,” said Bevirt.

“It is a much better way to travel.”

It’s better to see the world from above than to be stuck in traffic on the interstate.