Fiat Chrysler Takes Step Into Sky In Tie-Up With Urban Air Taxi Developer Archer

Fiat Chrysler Takes Step Into Sky In Tie-Up With Urban Air Taxi Developer Archer

An artist's rendering of Archer Aviation's planned electric air taxi.



Courtesy of Archer Aviation

If winging across town in an electric air taxi is to become a practical commuting option, their developers are going to have to figure out how to build hundreds of thousands of affordable aircraft. That's a scale that's more the territory of automakers than aircraft builders. So it's no surprise that some urban air mobility hopefuls are linking up with automakers.

California-based Archer Aviation said Tuesday it has struck a partnership with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles to leverage the automaker's design and manufacturing skills and supply chain to develop an electric aircraft that the startup says will take off and land like a helicopter and transition to flying like an airplane to carry a pilot and four passengers 60 miles at speeds of up to 150 mph.

Bankrolled by Walmart



WMT

e-commerce head Marc Lore, Archer's founders Brett Adcock and Adam Goldstein brought the startup out of stealth mode last spring after having made waves by paying top dollar to recruit highly regarded engineers from other electric air taxi startups. The tie-up with Fiat