Boeing, Larry Page-backed Kitty Hawk partner on self-flying taxi
Boeing and Kitty Hawk will form a new partnership aimed at launching an autonomous, all-electric flying taxi.
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The tie-up between the top U.S. aerospace giant and the startup backed by Google founder and Alphabet CEO Larry Page comes as competitors like Uber aim to develop their own air taxis.
“We have a shared vision of how people, goods and ideas will be transported in the future, as well as the safety and regulatory ecosystem that will underpin that transportation,” Steve Nordlund, who heads the division at Boeing focused on autonomous and piloted flying vehicles, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Kitty Hawk is working on the two-seater Cora, as well as the single-seater Flyer, which reportedly flies 10 feet above the ground at roughly 20 miles per hour. Last year, the company said it would partner with Air New Zealand to develop the first-ever air taxi service.
Tuesday's announcement was short on details, but the two firms said the partnership would "bring together the innovation of Kitty Hawk’s Cora division with Boeing’s scale and aerospace expertise."
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Meanwhile, Boeing faces continued scrutiny over the amount of information shared with pilots on the Boeing Max fleet before two fatal crashes involving the plane, the latest update to the Chicago-based manufacturer’s wildly popular 737 jet.