Boeing's First Autonomous Air Taxi Flight Ends In Fewer Than 60 Seconds

Boeing has completed the first flight of its autonomous air taxi Tuesday at a small airport outside Washington, D.C. 'The flight lasted less than a minute, according to Boeing, and it didn't actually go anywhere,' reports CNN. 'Instead, it hovered above the runway. Boeing declined to share how high above the ground it flew.' From the report: But Boeing is hailing the achievement as a milestone for its NeXt division, which develops autonomous airplanes. The flying car prototype is 30 feet long and 28 feet wide. It's designed to fly up to 50 miles at a time. Boeing and its competitors such as Airbus are betting that small, self-flying airplanes -- technically dubbed electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) -- will revolutionize transportation, especially in urban areas. Boeing believes the vehicles, more commonly referred to as air taxis or flying cars, will be a solution to traffic congestion.

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