Announcing a $495 million funding agreement with Boeing, Wisk Aero declined to provide any details about the sixth-generation eVTOL aircraft it is developing or say when it aims to complete type certification. The U.S. company intends to operate a large fleet of the all-electric, fully autonomous vehicles in air taxi services that it says it will launch in 20 cities, with as many as 14 million flights conducted by 2,000 aircraft in the first year of service.

The standout design feature of Overair's planned Butterfly eVTOL aircraft is its patented Optimum Speed Propulsion system, based on four large tiliting propellers that spin more slowly than other designs to reduce noise and consume less energy than those used by comparable vehicles. The company has started ground testing the propulsion system and is in the early stages of building a full-scale prototype of the five-seater model that could fly in 2023.

In the first year of a planned three-year program, Leonardo's new Business Innovation Factory is looking to accelerate 10 start-ups developing technology and products in "servitization" and autonomous systems. The most promising ventures will be given the opportunity to develop proof-of-concept plans in direct partnership with an appropriate subsidiary of the Italian aerospace, defense, and security group.

Following breakthroughs in trials involving beyond-visual-line-of-sight drone operations, autonomous flight technology group Neuron and blockchain specialist Hedera say they have a plan for digitizing all categories of airspace. The partners claim this approach could help to deliver a long-overdue modernization of air traffic management and would be especially valuable in enabling a rapid scale-up in eVTOL aircraft commercial services.

AirX has agreed to add EHang's EH216 autonomous eVTOL aircraft to its flight booking platform in Japan, placing preorders for 50 of the electric two-seaters. The Chinese manufacturer says the agreement is its largest yet with a Japanese customer, as it continues to build an order backlog ahead of type certification by Chinese authorities.

Advanced air mobility ground infrastructure group Skyports has bought one of only two public heliports in London for its planned vertiport network for eVTOL aircraft operations. The company plans to develop other vertiports in the UK and several other countries and will continue to welcome helicopters at the facility.

A short video showing ground testing of part of the propulsion system for Overair’s planned Butterfly five-seat eVTOL aircraft provides the first visual evidence of progress with the program. With financial and engineering support from its Korean partner Hanwha Systems, the California-based start-up has had a crew out in what would appear to be the Mojave desert running a test rig installed on a truck.

The video gives an early impression of the distinctively large (20-foot-diameter) tilting propellers that are the key component of Overair’s patented Optimum Speed Propulsion system. These are intended to turn more slowly than conventional propellers, reducing noise and conserving power to boost payload and range. The company aims to start flight testing a full-scale prototype aircraft in 2023. Upbeat music was used as a soundtrack for the video, rather than natural sound that would have given an early impression of noise levels.

Doroni Aerospace is fundraising to advance its plans for a two-seat personal eVTOL vehicle that it expects to market to wealthy individuals, with a list price expected to start at $135,000.