Milestones
- Gen 6 unveiledOct 2022Complete.
- Boeing takes full ownershipMay 2023Complete.
- Gen 6 first flightDec 2025Complete.
- FAA type certificate (safety approval)Not yet reached.
Most important updates
- 10 Aug 2026
- Dec 2025
- 16 Jun 2025
- 22 Jul 2024
- 25 Jun 2024
Current obstacles
- Approving a plane with no pilotNo regulator has approved a passenger aircraft with no pilot on board; the rules are still being written.
Physics limits
- Batteries hold about 40 times less energy per kilo than jet fuelThe best lithium-ion cells store roughly 0.25–0.3 kWh per kg; kerosene holds about 12 kWh per kg. Even after motors' higher efficiency, that caps range at tens of miles, and a battery weighs the same when empty.
- Proving 'safer than a pilot' needs enormous evidenceAirliners target failure rates near one in a billion flight hours. Showing a self-flying system meets that by testing alone is impossible, so it must be proven by analysis, simulation and limited, bounded behaviour.
- Ground links have delay and can drop outRadio and satellite links add delay and can be blocked. The aircraft must handle any emergency alone when the link is lost, so the ground supervisor can only ever be a back-up.
How it works
Lift
Twelve propellers, six of them tilt
Six front propellers tilt and six rear ones are fixed; all lift it straight up, then the front six swing forward for cruise on the wing.
Autonomy
The aircraft flies itself
Onboard computers fly a pre-planned, approved route from take-off to landing; there are no flight controls in the cabin.
Supervise
A person watches from the ground
A trained supervisor monitors several aircraft from a ground centre and can step in with high-level commands, not stick-and-rudder.
Update log
Mon 10 Aug
- Major: PressCommercial
Dec 2025
- Major: BlogTest
Mon 16 Jun 2025
- Minor: PressPartnership
Mon 22 Jul 2024
- Minor: PressPartnership
Tue 25 Jun 2024
- Minor: PressCommercial
About Wisk Aero
Wisk Aero
Self-flying 4-seat air taxi
Wisk, owned by Boeing, is building a fully self-flying four-passenger air taxi. It aims to be the first pilotless passenger aircraft approved by the FAA.
- Its Generation 6 aircraft, close to the final design, first flew in December 2025.
- No pilot on board; people on the ground each oversee several aircraft.
- Backed by Boeing, which bought out Kitty Hawk's share in 2023.
- Founded
- 20197 yrs
- Headquarters
- United States
- Status
- Subsidiaryof Boeing
- Valuation
- Boeing-owned
- Works in
- AviationAir taxis
- Coverage
- 1 program · 6 updateslatest 10 Aug 2026checked 25 Sep