Flying taxis are taking off in Texas. Is your city next?

The Sept. 10 kickoff at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport included demonstrations from BETA Technologies and Joby Aviation. Joby brought its electric , better known as an eVTOL. No passengers climbed aboard the initial Project Nexus flights. Instead, Texas is starting to learn how air taxis could eventually fit into the way people get around.

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AIR TAXIS CUT HOUR-LONG COMMUTES TO MINUTES, RIDERS MAY BE SHOCKED BY THE PRICE

Project Nexus will advance in phases over the next three years. The broader first phase uses traditional aircraft, including helicopters and fixed-wing planes, to test routes and collect data. TxDOT says those initial flights will help validate routes and prepare for future advanced air mobility operations. Joby also launched a week-long campaign of piloted electric air taxi flights across North Texas under TxDOT's Project Nexus proposal, part of the federal eVTOL Integration Pilot Program. The campaign included planned direct flights into DFW International Airport, a round trip to Arlington and a route connecting Alliance Airport with Toyota Motor North America's headquarters in Plano. One of the biggest tests involved DFW. Joby's campaign called for a direct flight into DFW's controlled airspace, with the aircraft landing at DFW Corporate Aviation. That puts an eVTOL into the same busy airspace used by one of the world's busiest airports. That kind of testing can tell regulators much more about how these aircraft might eventually operate around major transportation hubs.

We have been following electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, better known as eVTOLs, for years. They can rise vertically like a helicopter. Many designs then transition into forward flight using wings. Earlier this year, we looked at how a federal pilot program could bring air taxis into U.S. skies before the industry reaches full commercial service. We have also covered and Joby's partnership with Virgin Atlantic to develop electric air taxi service in the United Kingdom. So the aircraft themselves are no longer the biggest surprise. What gets my attention now is where companies are flying them and how regulators are testing their ability to operate around airports people already use. That's where Project Nexus comes in.

Flying around Dallas-Fort Worth creates challenges you do not get at an isolated test site. Joby's campaign included planned missions between Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport and several destinations around the region. DFW International Airport was part of that schedule. The company and federal researchers have been preparing for this type of operation for years. Joby says the FAA and NASA began studying electric air taxi integration in North Texas in 2018. Then, in 2023, Joby and NASA ran a detailed simulation examining whether the DFW terminal area could handle as many as 50 electric air taxi operations per hour. Now that work is moving from computer simulations to aircraft operating in North Texas. Joby has also leased a 45,000-square-foot facility at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport. The a long-term operating presence in North Texas, well beyond this