Video of the week: Prosperity I eVTOL air taxi moves closer to final design

In the latest design, AutoFlight said new optimised lifting propellers allow for a higher hover efficiency, while the two pushing propellers previously on either side of the air taxi have been replaced with one centre propeller with twin motors to enhance cruising abilities. The company added that Prosperity I is very close to the final design, which will be released later this year.

In a statement, AutoFlight CEO Tian Yu, said: “We’re delighted to announce POC#2 for Prosperity I. This takes us another step towards our vision of unlocking the skies for mass individual transport in the air by creating safe, efficient eVTOL aircrafts.”

Commercial flights are scheduled in 2026 ‘without being any less safe or more expensive than a car taxi ride’, the company said.

Work on POC#2 started in January 2022 and the aircraft made its maiden flight in April before achieving over 30 additional transition flights in the last few weeks.

Mark Henning, managing director of AutoFlight Europe said: “POC#2 is a new milestone for us, and we are pleased to have achieved over 30 successful transitions in the last few weeks with a full-size aircraft. This further demonstrates the great potential of our lift and cruise configuration which combines simplicity and safety. We will encompass all these key experiences and learnings into the final, full scale, design of Prosperity I which we will be revealing later this year.”

The latest test flight took place on June 2, 2022 in which the proof-of-concept aircraft flew 14.3km in 7.5 minutes. 

The milestone is the latest of a series of significant developments for AutoFlight including the establishment of a European base in Augsburg and $100m investment from Team Global.