The US Is Losing the Air Taxi Race to China

These aircraft must eventually go pilotless to drop the cost to a level that will capture significant volume, whether cargo or passengers. Otherwise, it will remain a niche market. The FAA is forcing Archer Aviation Inc., Joby Aviation Inc., Beta Technologies and other companies through a complex, slow certification process with a pilot. At this pace, it will take a decade or more to allow them to operate remotely or autonomously. The US is already behind China on autonomous flight and will fall further behind without a quicker process.

Nobody wants a rushed or haphazard certification that puts lives in danger. But if the FAA had been in charge in 1903, the Wright brothers might have given up on flight and returned to making bicycles. What does it take to be thorough and agile at the same time? That should be the goal of the FAA.

The Chinese model isn’t one to emulate. The industry is among those the government has chosen to dominate, and it provides subsidies and regulatory support to domestic companies. EHang, whose shares trade in the US, has said its small passenger drone is aimed initially at tourism, and several local governments, including in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, will offer subsidies for tourists to take panoramic rides.

In the US, markets aren’t made from the top down. Technology and investment flow from the bottom up, as they should. That’s why startups like Joby, Archer and Beta are working on building these aircraft and plan to deploy them in large cities to skip traffic jams. The business plans are as ambitious as the machines are impressive. The main hurdle isn’t the talent and drive of these startup companies nor a lack of funding. It is their regulator.

Unfortunately, the FAA’s certification process doesn’t handle new technology well, and the agency is designed to be risk averse, an attribute necessary to keep the skies safe. The US, after all, has the busiest airspace in the world and among the safest. That said, there are ways to accelerate certification and allow companies to push the envelope without endangering people.

Accelerating the process doesn’t mean doing shoddy work. Boeing Co. comes to mind. The FAA became lazy and complacent, which resulted in the agency turning over certification work to the company and then failing to remain vigilant on compliance. The rude wake-up call came with Boeing’s two tragic accidents involving the 737 Max aircraft, and the agency has since swung the certification pendulum to extreme caution for all aircraft.

The process itself is byzantine. The aircraft manufacturer must win the regulator’s approval for its conceptual design, and this serves as the basis for a certification application. The FAA then sets the safety requirements. The third phase, called compliance planning, lays out the detailed requirements for proving the aircraft meets those safety requirements. Then comes the test flights to tick those boxes on all aspects of the aircraft. Following that comes a period of post-certification monitoring.

While eVTOLs are distinct from helicopters — multiple electric motors instead of a large rotor driven by an internal combustion engine — they share the same characteristics on where they can take off and land. One big difference is that eVTOLs will be much quieter. Some that have wings and tilt motors will have more range. It’s a good bet the eVTOLs will be safer because they have multiple engines. Just like those in electric autos, the motors are much less complex than gas-powered engines.

Archer, Joby and Beta all have aircraft that fly, and they all expected certification to go faster before they became entangled in the FAA’s bureaucratic web. The agency needs to accelerate this documentation and testing regime. Can’t some of these phases be done at the same time? If a change is required, go back and rework the aircraft and paperwork.

China is barreling ahead. Of course, EHang’s automated rotorcraft is tiny and has little range (about 20 miles). But it costs $410,000, can carry 600 pounds and has an emergency parachute. All the US companies are having to design their initial aircraft with a pilot on board. The US eventually will need to take the pilot out to keep up with China, which will soon begin supplying the world with pilotless aircraft.