The future of commuter aviation may be a teal-green octocopter that has yet to take flight.
As traffic worsens in major cities worldwide, aviation companies are betting that more consumers will soon opt to fly above the gridlock using a radical new technology that aims to cut the costs and noise of piloted helicopters.
Enter the electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles (eVTOLs) — zero-emission air taxis that lift off like helicopters but fly like airplanes.
This fast-growing market, still in its early days, is expected to reach at least $4 billion by 2030, but achieving its lofty goals hinges on persuading travelers of the eVTOLs’ convenience and safety.
One frontrunner is Brazil-based Eve Air Mobility, a division of Embraer — the world’s third-biggest planemaker behind Airbus and Boeing.
Its CEO, Johann Bordais, told Business Insider that the new Eve eVTOL is expected to enter service by 2027 and will be more affordable than helicopters.
“The safety level, operating cost, and quietness of the eVTOL make it better than the helicopters flying today,” he said. Customers can expect the buzzing sky taxis over cities like Manhattan and São Paulo for airport transfers, ride-hailing, and sightseeing.
Bordais added that Eve is designed to one day need no pilot — it’ll be like the Waymo of the skies.
The focus on eVTOLs comes as other major players, including Hyundai’s Supernal and Airbus’ CityAirbus NextGen, have paused their electric-taxi programs this year.
Still, Embraer — which has already presold hundreds of units to United and SkyWest — has yet to fly a full-scale prototype, while two California rivals have.
Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation, partnered with Delta and United, respectively, showcased their eVTOLs to the public at a California airshow in October. Both are targeting 2026 launches as they race to carry the first passengers.
Bordais said he isn’t fazed: “Flying a prototype is one thing; going through certification is another.”
He said Embraer is prioritizing engineering and modeling all systems and subsystems to meet operator needs and federal standards before flying what will be its first eVTOL airframe.
He added that Embraer’s decades of experience certifying commercial, military, and private aircraft give it a major edge: “Certification is a milestone, and we’ve been through those milestones before,” he said.
Here’s what customers can expect onboard Eve.
Eve is designed as a four-seater electric aircraft with a range of 60 miles.
Eve is meant to whisk passengers within minutes between major cities like Manhattan or São Paulo and their airports.
A simulation on Eve’s website shows a hop from Miami International Airport to South Beach would take 15 minutes.
It has rotors, propellers, and batteries for propulsion — and plenty of backups.
Eve is built with extensive redundancy — eight rotors and multiple battery packs — so if one component fails, others take over.
It’s like how an airplane can safely fly on just one jet engine if the other fails.
Eve will use new and established infrastructure to start and scale up.
Many target markets already have heliports or vertiports, and Bordais said the US alone has over 5,000 airports.
Scaling up, however, requires investments in charging stations, ground support, and other infrastructure.
Embraer is working with countries including Bahrain, the US, the UK, Singapore, and Costa Rica to develop vertiports and support urban air mobility.
There is one pilot, but Embraer hopes the eVTOL will one day be autonomous.
Bordais said Eve is designed to reduce the pilot’s workload, allowing them to focus on flying.
But, he said, it’s also built to eventually be pilotless. Without a pilot, the eVTOL could be configured for six passengers instead of four.
“We’re talking about inserting autonomous and non-autonomous aircraft into the airspace,” Bordais said. “It’s a journey of how to do this.”
Some industry experts are skeptical about pilotless eVTOLs.
Andy Day, the SVP of operations at the private aviation safety risk management firm Wyvern, told Business Insider that he would “never be okay with completely autonomous aircraft” and that you can’t replace a human’s reaction and intuitiveness in an emergency situation.
Companies like Airbus, Bulgaria’s Dronamic, and American planemaker Pyka are working toward autonomous flight.
Eve will begin flight testing soon.
Bordais said Eve’s first full-scale prototype is expected to fly within two months. It will serve as a “knowledge accelerator,” but it’s not part of the certification process.
Eve has completed nearly a dozen campaigns evaluating aspects such as propeller efficiency and noise, as well as rotor behavior while the aircraft transitions between vertical movement and forward flight.
Bordais didn’t provide the expected fare for Eve.
Eve would be a workhorse for airlines. United, for example, aims to build a network in San Francisco and has entered into a conditional purchase agreement for 200 Eve eVTOLs.
Bordais didn’t offer fare estimates but said air taxi fares are trending downward with new technology.
“Would we want to see Manhattan to [New York] JFK be $220 or $250? Yes, but it’s going to be up to the operator to decide the price,” he said, adding that eVTOLs are expected to be cheaper than helicopters.
Joby and Archer said their fares would be about those of an Uber Black.
Based on midday rates on a recent Wednesday, an UberBlack from New York-JFK to Grand Central Terminal costs $172 for the entire car.
Joby and Archer would charge per seat, so an eVTOL ride would be $508 for a family of four. The car is cheaper, but, based on average drive times, the UberBlack would take at least three times as long as Eve’s 10-minute hop.
Bordais said the biggest priority for Eve is safety.
Safety is crucial, especially amid a negative public perception stemming from two high-profile helicopter crashes in 2025.
Bordais said Eve’s propellers are off during boarding — unlike a helicopter’s spinning blades — and the aircraft can glide during a power loss, making it more survivable during forward flight than a helicopter’s auto-rotation.
“Embraer has a long history of making safe airplanes that fly 100 million people a year,” he said.
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