One prototype air taxi suffered a software program glitch, misplaced management and nosed right into a area. One other’s pc erroneously thought it was on the bottom, shutting off energy in flight and plunging it onto the pavement. Batteries on two extra burst into flames.
The race to develop a brand new household of flying machines to whisk folks and cargo throughout traffic-choked cities has drawn billions of {dollars} of funding and huge promise. However a few of the greatest names in aviation have had accidents throughout testing, in accordance with a Bloomberg evaluation of reviews courting again to 2018. They embrace Boeing Co. and its subsidiary, Aurora Flight Sciences Corp., Textron Inc.’s Bell helicopter division, billionaire Larry Web page’s Kitty Hawk Corp., Joby Aviation Inc. and German air-taxi pioneer Lilium NV.