Wisk Aero partners with Signature Aviation to develop eVTOL infrastructure

The partnership will involve assessing commercial, technical, regulatory, and operational factors that affect the feasibility of vertiports. A significant part of these evaluations will focus on the autonomous nature of Wisk’s aircraft, which are designed without pilots.

Ellington Airport serves as the first test site where both companies will collaborate on designing passenger flows and ensuring compatibility between vertiport infrastructure and autonomous systems. They will also address requirements like ground handling and charging capabilities.

Wisk’s Generation 6 eVTOL aircraft is planned as a four-seater vehicle that operates fully autonomously—unlike competitors such as Archer Aviation’s Midnight or Joby Aviation’s S4, which require a single pilot. The Generation 6 features six fixed propellers for vertical lift and six tilting propellers for forward flight. It has an advertised range of 78 nautical miles (145 kilometers) and can reach speeds between 127–138 mph (204–222 kph). The company states it can recharge in about 15 minutes.

"Wisk Aero has been working closely with NASA to pave the way for widespread autonomous eVTOL flight. The two parties signed a five-year research agreement focused on integrating autonomous aircraft into the National Airspace System under IFR conditions. These standards are foundational to infrastructure planning and safety protocols."

Earlier in 2025, Wisk acquired Austrian firm Skygrid to strengthen its expertise in airspace automation and flight management technologies.

"Moving forward, this MOU provides a concrete framework for bringing urban air mobility into reality. By combining Signature’s ground infrastructure with Wisk’s fully autonomous aircraft and systems expertise, the collaboration aims to pioneer commercially viable, community-integrated autonomous air taxi services, though it is far from the only one."