Wisk

History

2022: Raising $450 million

On January 24, 2022, Boeing announced that it would invest $450 million in Wisk, which is developing small unmanned air transport for short passenger flights in cities and beyond.

California-based Wisk, owned by Boeing and Kitty Hawk - an aircraft company created by Google co-founder Larry Page - is one of dozens of manufacturers of electric vertical runways (eVTOL), but differs in focusing its efforts on autonomous flight.

Boeing invested $450 million in a joint flight taxi developer with Larry Page

We believe that the great strategic advantage of Wisk is to go straight to an autonomous aircraft, implementing these principles at all levels of design and development, "said Boeing Chief Strategic Officer Mark Allen.

The decision to get ahead of the generation of manned eVTOL aircraft developed by independent startups and some aerospace groups entails a consequence in the form of a later commissioning than the target date of 2024, provided for by most competitors.

Boeing declined to give an estimated date for the introduction of the project under development, but industry sources said the idea was to submit it for certification around 2028. Boeing said it will be the first autonomous passenger car certified in the United States.

In a statement, Wisk said Boeing's $450 million investment would make it "one of the most well-funded" companies in the industry, but gave no other details.

Asked if there could be other partnerships in Boeing's core aerospace activities, Allen said:

Wisk is just one fine example. I'm sure he won't be the only one.

He added that Boeing's investment in the company could lead to improvements that could be applied to Boeing's entire portfolio.

{{quote 'The constant changes in demand that will accompany these emerging industries really require broad cooperation between industry representatives, who are united by various opportunities, "he said. ^[1]

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