Need a ride at the Miami airport? A self-flying air taxi may be coming

Travelers coming through the Miami airport usually find ground transportation —Uber, shuttles, family — to drive them to their home, hotel or business meeting.

In a few years, they may be turning to an autonomous flying taxi for their ride.

The Miami-Dade Aviation Department and a company called Wisk Aero are working together to bring all-electric self-flying planes to South Florida. There’s a lot of work ahead to land the flying taxis, which take off and land vertically like a helicopter but look like a plane.

Wisk Aero, a California company started in 2019 by Boeing and Google co-founder Larry Page’s company Kitty Hawk, is developing the flying machines, and it sees South Florida as one of its first markets to launch. The company and the Miami-Dade Aviation Department in June reached a preliminary, non-binding agreement that sets the stage for the service.

Those first steps include finding places to put “vertiports” at MIA, Miami Executive Airport and Opa-locka Executive Airport. Spots could include vacant lots and parking garage roof. The autonomous aerial taxis take off and like a chopper but cruise on fixed wings as airplanes do. They don’t need a runway.

The agreement also calls for the two sides to determine where to put electric chargers and how to manage airspace. No airport money is involved for now.

Wisk also reached an agreement with the University of Miami’s Engineering Autonomy Mobility Initiative to do research and development in advanced air mobility autonomous flight technology, the category of transport the California company is developing. NASA describes advanced air mobility as “an air transportation system that moves people and cargo between places previously not served or underserved by aviation — local, regional, intraregional, urban — using revolutionary new aircraft that are only just now becoming possible.”

The needs at Miami’s airport

Talk of self-flying taxis comes at a time that Waymo, the driverless ride-share company, is testing vehicles in South Florida.

Even as the airport works on basics such as rehabbing bathrooms and repairing escalators, it’s also pushing innovation as the region becomes a global finance and tech hub. Last year, MIA rolled out autonomous wheelchairs for passengers and just introduced a second app that helps visually impaired travelers navigate the terminals.

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”We can multitask,” Ralph Cutié, chief executive officer of MIA, said in an interview with the Miami Herald.

The new partnership “will not divert any attention whatsoever” from the current renovations the airport has embarked on, he said.

Another advantage to the agreement with Wisk: It opens up MIA access to an industry that’s largely closed and whose technology is mostly proprietary, the airport chief said.

“It allows for a greater level of information-sharing,” said Cutié, which will allow the airport to evaluate more technologies. “We want to be ready for whenever these vehicles are approved.”

But don’t expect to summon an air taxi tomorrow. They are several years away from flying. The company expects certification from the Federal Aviation Administration by 2030.

Urban air transport

Wisk sees its vehicles complementing commercial flights at Miami International Airport.

The current sixth-generation model seats four passengers and allows for about four carry-on-bags, or one per person. It has some extra space for backpacks or other items.

With today’s battery technology, a taxi can fly about 90 miles with reserves, so basically within South Florida, J.C. Asencio, infrastructure and emerging markets manager, said in an interview with the Miami Herald. It flies 1,500 feet to 4,000 feet above ground, he said.

That means for now, primary use will be urban transport, like getting people from Miami to Fort Lauderdale while avoiding the traffic below. The company aims to eventually charge about what an airport traveler might pay for an Uber.

The company still has lots of testing to do. That’s because Wisk wants to demonstrate commercial aviation levels of safety, Asencio said, with flight critical functions failing just once in a billion times.

The company, which was acquired by Boeing in 2023, is doing simulations and working with the FAA.

The flights will have regular communications with air traffic control towers, a wide array of sensors on board and someone supervising the plane from below.

Plans for the company’s air taxis also are being tested at two other U.S. airports., Houston and Long Beach, California.

Wisk Aero sees South Florida as one of its top markets.

“We expect Miami to be among the first U.S metros” where the taxis fly, Asencio said, with Miami-Dade County and the state of Florida actively pushing and prepping the technology.

Said Ascenio: “Miami has been a leader in this space.”

This story was originally published June 17, 2025 at 5:28 AM.