The latest sixth-generation electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOL) of Wisk Aero, a subsidiary of Boeing, recently completed its historic first flight, taking a key step towards obtaining the world's first "fully autonomous, passenger-carrying eVTOL" model certification. At 12:26 local time on December 16, 2025, the Gen 6 eVTOL took off smoothly from the Wisk test flight base in Hollister, California, USA, marking that the project officially entered the systematic flight test stage from the prototype and design stage.
News of eVTOL's first flight is common nowadays, but Wisk's significance this time is this: Gen 6 is a mass-produced prototype for type certification by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and is known as the world's first "fully autonomous passenger-carrying eVTOL" candidate model seeking FAA certification. Wisk has been deeply involved in this field for more than ten years. Gen 6 has completed five generations of model iterations, from the initial proof of concept to today's quasi-production-level verification platform.
Unlike similar competitors such as Joby and Archer, Gen 6 has adopted an "autonomous driving first" design concept from the beginning. It is no longer equipped with traditional joysticks and pedals, and there is no human pilot position in the cockpit. The operating model planned by Wisk is for a "Multi-Vehicle Supervisor" on the ground to remotely monitor the operating status of multiple aircraft at the same time. Each supervisor can be responsible for up to three aircraft at the same time to reduce labor costs and reduce safety risks caused by human operating errors.
In terms of operational planning, Wisk aims to put this eVTOL into commercial service in the form of autonomous air taxis. The first planned cities include major American cities such as Houston, Los Angeles and Miami. After completing the first flight, the project will enter a multi-year test flight and verification phase, accumulating data around flight control systems, avionics redundancy and structural safety to meet a series of stringent FAA requirements for passenger aircraft.
From a technical perspective, the Gen 6 is designed to cruise at a speed of 120 knots (approximately 138 mph, 222 km/h), can operate at a maximum altitude of approximately 4,000 feet (1,220 meters), and can carry four passengers and carry-on luggage. The fuselage adopts a composite propulsion layout: six convertible rotors with both lift and forward thrust are arranged in front of the wings, and there are six dedicated lift rotors above the fuselage to achieve a smooth transition from vertical take-off and landing to fixed-wing horizontal flight. The entire conversion process takes about 30 seconds.
The wingspan is about 15 meters and adopts a high-wing layout to improve flight stability and passenger visibility; the tail adopts a redesigned "cross-tail" structure to further optimize weight distribution and center of gravity control compared to the previous model. Wisk pointed out that this configuration is a "certification-level" finalized solution formed after continuous testing and adjustment based on the first five generations of prototypes, taking into account aerodynamic efficiency and the complex operating scenarios of urban air traffic.
In terms of flight control system, Gen 6 adopts fully automatic flight control, which does not rely on general artificial intelligence but operates based on a logic-driven and programmed algorithm system. The system integrates a complete "detect and avoid" (DAA) sensing and navigation component, and aims to achieve a safety level equivalent to that of a commercial mainline airliner with only one catastrophic failure in 100 million flight hours. The propaganda caliber is "one billionth probability of failure."
Wisk CEO Sebastien Vigneron said in a press release that the first flight was a "pivotal moment" that culminated in the team's years of hard work and vividly demonstrated the technical achievements and execution capabilities of the Gen 6 project. He emphasized that seeing Gen 6 truly fly off the ground is a major reinforcement of the company's confidence in the "autonomous future" and also makes the team more committed to the long-term vision of promoting safe and daily air travel.