DOT, FAA Unveil ‘Flying Car’ Program in 26 States
The U.S. government is laying the groundwork to enable electric aircraft that take off and land vertically, or eVTOLs, to operate in its airspace.
Beginning this summer, in programs spanning 26 states, partners will test next-generation aircraft, the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration announced Monday.
“We all know what a drone looks like, these are the massive human drones, eVTOLs,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in an interview he posted to social media Tuesday, “and so we have set up a number of different pilot areas, where we are allowing companies to deploy their technologies, only one or two at a time.”
“But they are going to move people, they are going to move products, they can be used for emergency response, but we want data at the FAA in this pilot program to then be able to move forward with these eVTOLs, these are much quieter and much safer than a traditional helicopter and they are way cheaper.”
Areas covered by the pilot programs include:
- Urban air taxi services
- Regional passenger transportation (including short takeoff and landing aircraft)
- Cargo and logistics networks
- Emergency medical response operations
- Autonomous flight technologies
- Offshore and energy-sector transportation
“These partnerships will help us better understand how to safely and efficiently integrate these aircraft into the National Airspace System,” FAA Deputy Administrator Chris Rocheleau said in the statement. “The program will provide valuable operational experience that will inform the standards needed to enable safe Advanced Air Mobility operations. We appreciate the strong interest reflected in the many proposals we received.”
©2026 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit al.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.