Autonomous air taxi developer Wisk Aero has handed a full-scale “Gen6” prototype to its flight-test and operations team.
The Mountain View-based start-up revealed the completed aircraft in 8 December social media posts, showing the bright-yellow air taxi positioned before open hangar doors.
”This wasn’t just a move across the hangar; it marked the transition from building an aircraft to proving its abilities in the air,” the company says. “At Wisk, we believe that dedication creates results. We’ve been designing, building, and testing for years, and now the next phase begins.”
Wisk tells FlightGlobal that the Gen6 prototype will conduct a series of “restrained ground tests” before getting airborne “soon”.
The flight-test programme will be conducted at Wisk’ test facility in Hollister, California. It will seek to validate the all-electric aircraft’s hover profile, focusing on take-offs, landings and low-speed stability. The operations team will then progress to ”latitundal transition flight” and pedal turns.
”Flight test allows us to verify our control laws, structural loads and aircraft dynamics, and each test gives us feedback and data to refine as needed,” Wisk says. ”Our top priorities are safely validating our design, simulation models and system performance.”
Assembly of the first Gen6 protype had been underway since late 2024, with Wisk sharing occasional progress updates as the aircraft took shape.
Wisk adds that it is continuing to work on certification with the Federal Aviation Administration, as well as partners NASA and SkyGrid to “fine-tune the user experience”.
Chief executive Sebastien Vigneron said at the Paris air show in June that the Gen6 prototype would likely achieve first flight in “weeks or months”. The company has previously stated that it hoping to get off the ground before year-end, though that timeline is increasingly tight.
Vigneron said that Wisk’s first full-sized aircraft is not a traditional prototype, but rather an aircraft designed to complete the start-up’s flight-test programme and eventually enter into commercial service.
Boeing-backed Wisk has also indicated that a second Gen6 prototype is under assembly.
Wisk is developing a fully autonomous air taxi for commercial use. It has previously suggested that passenger-carrying services could launch in the late 2020s or early next decade.
