Originally published at: Archer Begins ‘No Roads’ Tour With Piloted Midnight Flights
Archer Aviation’s Midnight eVTOL completed a piloted round trip between Salinas and Hollister as the company expands its “No Roads” flight tour.
Wonderful to see the technology advance to the stage of “real world” flights even if they are only tens of minutes. My issue with the entire concept of eVTOL or AAM as some are calling it, is that it will only ever be affordable to a very small cross section of the population. It will be such an expensive niche service that significant reductions in traffic congestion are highly unlikely. Given that an average Uber vehicle might sell for $50k, how can a 4 seat eVTOL worth millions possibly offer affordable rates. The business model supporting the huge venture capital investments just doesn’t seem to exist.