All the flourishes of FCA and Archer on flying taxis
Facts, partners and secrets of Archer Aviation, the new ally of FCA (which enters the flying taxi market)
FCA tries to fly with the Californian Archer Aviation. The Italian-American car manufacturer, about to finalize the wedding with the French PSA, has just signed an agreement with Archer for the development of vertical take-off taxis.
The first prototype should be ready in 2021. All the details.
ARCHER AVIATION
Let's start with the partner. The Californian start-up is working on the construction of a flying taxi, or a "piloted winged plane capable of carrying four passengers at 60 miles at speeds of up to 150 mph, with rotors that tilt upwards to allow to take off like a helicopter and rotate forward to fly like an airplane, ”says Forbes .
THE FOUNDERS
The innovative company, based in Palo Alto, was founded by Brett Adcock and Adam Goldstein, two “men of Wall street,” writes Forbes. Graduates from the University of Florida, the two began working together at hedge fund Cedar Hill Capital Partners.
After earning 100 million dollars, in 2018, from the sale of Vettery, an online recruiting platform, they designed and founded Archer Aviation, of which I am co-CEO.
THE FINANCERS OF ARCHER AVIATION
In addition to the two founders, Marc Lore, president and CEO of Walmart US e-commerce, is financing the Palo Alto startup. Unknown the sum paid by Lore (although some employees speak of a billionaire investor), it is certain that he was not the only one to invest in the company: "Marc raised a lot of capital from family offices and wealthy people with an interest in technology ”Goldstein tells Forbes. Money, explains the CEO, which made it possible to hire a significant number of engineers from companies such as Wisk, Joby, Airbus.
THE AGREEMENT WITH FCA
But let's get back to the agreement. Thanks to the agreement, if FCA enters fully into the flying taxi race, Archer Aviation will be able to count on FCA's chain of suppliers to lower production costs.
Not only. From FCA, the American startup will be able to take all the experience in design, engineering and materials, accelerating the commercialization of aircraft (set for 2023).
AN IMPORTANT MARKET
FCA, on the other hand, enters a promising market. In fact, according to a study by Morgan Stanley Research , the flying taxi sector is expected to continue to mature over this decade, reaching 1.5 trillion globally by 2040.
In the game, in addition to FCA and Archer, there are big brands such as Toyota, Uber, Hyundai, Airbus and Boeing.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/tutti-gli-svolazzi-di-fca-e-archer-sui-taxi-volanti/ on Thu, 14 Jan 2021 13:32:32 +0000.