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The long-stalled movement to commercialize drone passenger vehicles appears to be gaining fresh momentum.  The FAA, alarmed at the rate of progress of China-based EHang, has recently stepped up its approval of prototypes developed by two leading US companies, Archer Aviation and Joby.  Both companies received special airworthiness certificates over the summer, as did ALEF and ASKA, producers of taxis with unique air/road “hybrid” designs.  All four companies now have access to larger amounts of investment capital and can expand their efforts to develop manufacturing plants to produce their vehicles at scale.

Meanwhile, Europe is also feeling the pressure to commercialize. Germany-based Volocopter, which already maintains a small production plant in Bruchsal, about 20 miles south of Heidelberg, is moving to expand its operations, thanks to the receipt of new investment and a stronger go-ahead from German authorities and from the EASA, the FAA’s European counterpart.  All told, several dozen drone taxi companies are advancing rapidly in the hopes of making their vehicles available for public use, possibly starting at international airports to serve as commercial passenger shuttles, by as early as next year.

UK-based Arc Aero Systems is less well-known than its US and European counterparts but could soon break out of the pack.  The UK-based company has drone designs in three separate  niches:  aerial surveillance, air cargo delivery and drone taxis.  It also tends toward much heavier drone designs.  For example, Arc’s drone taxi can handle 9 passengers, 2-4 times as many as those produced by Joby or Archer, which could make it more suitable as a mass transit vehicle.  It might also hold greater appeal to commercial airlines seeking an airport commuter shuttle.

Despite its size, the Arc drone taxi takes off and lands like a helicopter, but with fixed wings, can still travel at high speeds. And with its expanded carrying capacity, the vehicle’s passenger seat cost is just $1, which makes it extremely competitive with Joby and Archer, and even EHang, whose passenger seat costs are twice as high.

Arc Aero’s new C-600 cargo drone is also a real stand-out.  As a eVTOL vehicle, it can launch and land from office parking lots or rooftop heliports – or still to be constructed “vertiports” – but with a fixed wing span of eight feet, it can travel at speeds up to 250 miles per hour while still carrying up to 300 pounds of cargo.  It also runs on hydrogen fuel, which gives it distance, fuel efficiency and sustainability advantages over both gas- and battery-powered vehicles.  All of these specs will likely give Arc C-600 a leading edge in the rapidly expanding European cargo delivery market.

Last but not least, there’s also Arc Aero C-150 drone, a smaller craft with a payload of 44 pounds intended for search-and-rescue, mapping and aerial photography missions.  The C-150 can be equipped with advanced sensors and zoom cameras and can travel at speeds of up to 93 mph with a distance range of 62 miles.  Equipped with advanced BVLOS technology, the C-150, pending future regulatory approval, will be able to fly fully autonomously,

All three of Arc Aero’s cutting edge drone systems are still in development but are moving quickly toward type certification and eventual commercialization.  The C-600 was recently flight tested successfully for the first time at Wick John O’Groats Airport in Scotland and passed with flying colors.

“We are very thankful to Innovate U.K. and all of the involved parties that supported ARC to finish the flight test of the C-600, the largest eVTOL UAV in Europe, and we look forward to beyond the visual “line of sight test’ to get one step closer to commercialization,” Seyed Mohseni, CEO and founder of ARC Aero Systems, told the magazine IoT Today last week.

Arc Aero also has a number of ambitious plans for the future, including the construction of an “innovation hub” with a flight testing center to be staffed by 40 employees in Cranfield, about 50 miles north of London.  The hub is part of  the company’s larger vision for a 200-acre  eVTOL “design village” with an industrial assembly plant, a school, hospital, a shopping mall and an apartment complex capable of housing up to 3,000 residents.  Construction is scheduled to get underway in 2025.