Image Credit: Archer Aviation

As Los Angeles gears up to host the 2028 Summer Olympics, a bold new vision for transportation is quite literally taking off — electric flying taxis.

A cadre of California startups is betting big that the global spotlight on LA28 will be the perfect launchpad for a transportation revolution, one that has long lived in science fiction but is now being rapidly prototyped in Silicon Valley labs and Southern California hangars. But while the vision is clear, the runway is anything but smooth.

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California startups race to launch flying taxis for LA’s 2028 Olympics—but FAA approval remains a major ♬ original sound – STMDailyNews

From Freeways to Flight Paths

Imagine skipping LA’s infamous gridlock by hopping into a quiet, zero-emission aircraft that lifts off vertically, flies over the freeway tangle, and drops you within minutes at your Olympic venue. That’s the promise being pitched by companies like Archer Aviation, Joby Aviation, and Wisk Aero.

San Jose-based Archer Aviation recently landed a high-profile partnership with the LA28 Olympic committee, positioning its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to shuttle athletes and visitors around the city. Not to be outdone, Joby Aviation—considered a front-runner in the eVTOL space—is also targeting Olympic routes. Wisk Aero, a Mountain View startup backed by Boeing, is working on a pilotless version it hopes will be airworthy by the end of the decade.

“There is no better world stage than the Olympics,” says David Oord, policy manager at Wisk. And for these futuristic flying taxis, the Games may be the debut opportunity of a lifetime.

The Dream vs. The Deadline

But the journey to 2028 isn’t without turbulence.

The biggest challenge? Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification. For these vehicles to operate commercially, they must clear an extensive, high-stakes regulatory process that traditionally takes years. And while the technology has advanced at warp speed, government approval is still crawling.

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So far, only a handful of eVTOL developers have entered the FAA’s Type Certification phase, the final regulatory hurdle before commercial flight. Archer, Joby, and others have made progress, but analysts say getting certified and scaled in time for LA28 is a long shot — though not impossible.

Racing Toward the Skies

Beyond the technology and regulation, there’s another race playing out: the battle for market dominance in this fledgling industry.

Joby, Archer, Wisk, and others are all jockeying for the largest slice of what they see as a massive future market — not just during the Olympics, but for years afterward. With California’s cities among the most congested in the country, demand for faster, cleaner, and quieter urban mobility could be enormous if public trust and safety are established.

The Olympics provide not just an opportunity for spectacle, but a testing ground for mainstream viability. It’s a public debut with global implications.

Image Credit: Archer Aviation

From Sci-Fi to Sky-High?

For decades, shows like The Jetsons and films like Minority Report teased visions of flying cars and autonomous aircraft. In those futuristic worlds — set in 2062 and 2054, respectively — aerial commuting was the norm. Now, a handful of engineers and entrepreneurs are trying to bring that world to life more than three decades early.

Whether the 2028 Olympics becomes the Jetsons moment for transportation remains to be seen. But the effort is real, the stakes are high, and the race is on.

Stay tuned as LA’s airspace becomes the next frontier in Olympic innovation — and potentially, everyday travel.

Source: Daily Breeze

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Related links:

Archer Aviation: https://news.archer.com/archer-selected-as-the-official-air-taxi-provider-of-the-la28-olympic-and-paralympic-games-and-team-usa-in-exclusive-deal

Joey Aviation: https://www.jobyaviation.com/news/

Wisk Aviation: https://wisk.aero/

Daily Breeze article: https://www.dailybreeze.com/2025/05/26/electric-air-taxi-companies-look-to-relay-visitors-athletes-at-l-a-olympics/

STM Daily News is a vibrant news blog dedicated to sharing the brighter side of human experiences. Emphasizing positive, uplifting stories, the site focuses on delivering inspiring, informative, and well-researched content. With a commitment to accurate, fair, and responsible journalism, STM Daily News aims to foster a community of readers passionate about positive change and engaged in meaningful conversations. Join the movement and explore stories that celebrate the positive impacts shaping our world.

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Andrea Charron, University of Manitoba

Four (and counting) air objects have violated North American airspace in less than a week.

It began with a Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon flying over Alaska and northwestern Canada.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracked the balloon and the three other air objects. None appeared to pose a military threat to North America, but they still caused concern because they could both gather intelligence and interfere with civilian air traffic.

NORAD is binational. Canadian and United States military personnel are assigned to NORAD to focus on the defence of the North American continent, not just Canada or the U.S. It’s a vital command that has been overlooked and undervalued. It is, however, the first line of defence for both states — as many Americans and Canadians are now learning.

NORAD’s reason for being

NORAD has three missions:

1. It warns and tracks air objects of concern (aerospace warning)
2. It can defeat (in other words, shoot down) these objects or escort them out of national airspace (aerospace control)
3. It tracks maritime vessels approaching North America that may be of concern (maritime warning)

What’s unique about NORAD is that Canadian and American interceptors, personnel and assets work together seamlessly in joint commands. For example, Canadian personnel can be in charge of American NORAD personnel in Alaska while U.S. jets assigned to NORAD may operate in Canadian airspace.

NORAD personnel communicate and co-ordinate with each other across national boundaries. This is all part of the NORAD agreement.

It’s no accident that a statement by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin specifically noted Canada and NORAD’s role in the dramatic shooting down of the Chinese surveillance balloon over the Atlantic Ocean on Feb. 4.

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NORAD Commander General Glen VanHerck — a four-star U.S. general — is based at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, and can reach out to both the American president and the Canadian prime minister.

He’s equally responsible to American and Canadian citizens. If a flying object needs to be shot down, the American president approves any action in U.S. airspace while the prime minister approves it in Canadian airspace. Sovereignty is respected.

However, both Canadian and American personnel and assets are involved.

This was evident in the case of the air objects flying over the Yukon and Lake Huron.

While they were shot down in Canadian airspace with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s permission, American fighter jets were in position to assist and execute the commands.

Under NORAD provisions, it doesn’t matter if it’s Canadian or American jets used to shoot down unidentified flying objects over North America. NORAD’s mission was achieved with the appropriate national command authority.

NORAD now on our radar

While NORAD certainly needs modernizing — it requires not only new radars, satellites and interceptors, but also ways to integrate information and intelligence from more partners and allies — the events of the past few days show it’s agile.

Those same events have also reminded both Canadians and Americans that North America is vulnerable.

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We don’t know the origins of all of the flying objects — that will be up to the FBI, RCMP and intelligence agencies to discern. If the air objects originated in foreign nations, next steps will involve the U.S. State Department and Global Affairs Canada. If they’re domestic in origin, it will be a matter for police and regulatory authorities.

Either way, the recent events have provided North Americans with a clear wake-up call. Canada is not the “fire-proof house” it once hoped it could be.

Neither is the U.S. immune from potential threats just because of its military might.

NORAD celebrates its 65th anniversary in May. The organization is clearly needed now more than ever. But its biggest challenge remains the lack of understanding of its value and importance.

If there’s any silver lining to the events of the past few weeks, perhaps it’s that North Americans will now recognize and appreciate the role NORAD plays in keeping them safe.

Andrea Charron, Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Defence and Security Studies, University of Manitoba

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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The science section of our news blog STM Daily News provides readers with captivating and up-to-date information on the latest scientific discoveries, breakthroughs, and innovations across various fields. We offer engaging and accessible content, ensuring that readers with different levels of scientific knowledge can stay informed. Whether it’s exploring advancements in medicine, astronomy, technology, or environmental sciences, our science section strives to shed light on the intriguing world of scientific exploration and its profound impact on our daily lives. From thought-provoking articles to informative interviews with experts in the field, STM Daily News Science offers a harmonious blend of factual reporting, analysis, and exploration, making it a go-to source for science enthusiasts and curious minds alike. https://stmdailynews.com/category/science/

Christopher Nichols, The Ohio State University

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

What is most likely going on in Area 51? – Griffin, age 10, South Lyon, Michigan

One of the reasons people can never be entirely sure about what is going on at Area 51 is that it is a highly classified secret military facility. It was not until 2013 that the U.S. government even acknowledged the existence and name “Area 51.”

This information came out as part of a broader set of documents released through a Freedom of Information Act request, which is something regular citizens and groups can do to ask the U.S. government to provide details about government activities. In this case, the request made public formerly classified CIA information regarding the historical development and testing of the U-2 spy plane. The information also revealed where it was tested: Area 51!

As a national security historian, I know there’s a long history of secrets at Area 51. I also know that none of those secrets have anything to do with space aliens.

The place

The base commonly referred to as Area 51 is located in a remote area of southern Nevada, roughly 100 miles (161 kilometers) from Las Vegas. It is in the middle of a federally protected area of the U.S. Air Force’s Nevada Test and Training Range, now known as the Nevada National Security Site, which is inside the larger Nellis Air Force Range.

Area 51 is the name on maps for the area within the Nevada National Security Site where the government carried out secret operations. The airfield at Area 51 is called Homey Airport, and the overall facility is often referred to as Groom Lake. Groom Lake is a salt flat, or dried-out lake, adjacent to the airport.

The history

In the early years of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, both nations sought new technological developments that might give one country more power than the other. A great amount of information about scientific achievements, such as on rockets or weapons – but also even on ways to grow more food or make fuel more efficient – was kept secret as an issue of national security.

A key part of not fighting another world war was, and still is, developing technologies to see what the other side is doing – that is, surveillance technologies that can spy on the enemy. The information gathered by new and improved surveillance technologies about new innovations with planes and weapons was very important to governments.

This meant that both the surveillance information and the technology to get it were closely held national security secrets. Very few people in the governments of the U.S. and Soviet Union knew about the secrets from the 1940s all the way up until the end of the Cold War in 1991.

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Central to all this was the U.S.’s U-2 spy plane. It could fly higher than other airplanes and was made to travel over targets all around the world to take high-resolution photographs and measurements. Area 51 was selected in 1955 to test the U-2 in part because its remote location could help keep the plane secret.

Area 51 became the test site for other secret new aircraft. This included the A-12, which, like the U-2, was a fast-flying reconnaissance plane. The A-12 was first test flown at Homey Airport in 1962. It had a bulging disc-like center to carry additional fuel. Its shape and shiny titanium body could well have been responsible for some people’s reports about seeing spherical ships, also known as flying saucers.

Another important – and odd-shaped – aircraft first tested at Area 51 was the stealth fighter known as the F-117. It first flew at Homey Airport in 1981.

Secrets and speculation

“More Flying Objects Seen in Clark Sky,” read the June 17, 1959, headline in the Reno Evening Gazette newspaper. Reports like this of unidentified flying objects in the 1950s and 1960s fueled controversy and attention for Area 51. This was for three main reasons:

1. Area 51 was highly secret and not publicly accessible.
2. The area was home to test flights of secret new airplanes that moved fast and in different ways than expected.
3. The Cold War was an era of political tension, and there were many movies and TV shows about space aliens at the time.

When the government does not tell the public the full truth, no matter the reasons, secrets can lead to wild speculation. Secrecy can leave room for conspiracy theories to develop.

Area 51 remains off-limits to civilian and regular military air traffic, a decade after the government acknowledged its existence. The 68 years of government secrecy has helped to amplify suspicions, speculation and conspiracy theories. These conspiracy theories include crashed alien spaceships, space aliens being experimented on, and even space aliens working at Area 51.

There are much simpler explanations for what witnesses have seen near Area 51. After all, the public now knows about what was being tested at Area 51, and when. For example, as U-2 and A-12 flights increased in the 1950s and 1960s, so did local sightings of UFOs. As balloons and planes crashed, and secret testing of new technologies as well as captured Soviet equipment continued, so did reports of UFO crashes and landings.

In fact, many UFO sightings match almost exactly with dates and times of flights of then-classified experimental aircraft. We also know that prototype drones and more recent versions have been tested at the site.

In the end, there is no reason to think that anything other than earthly technologies have been behind the strange sights and sounds at Area 51.

This article has been updated to correct the descriptions of the name Area 51 and the U2 spy plane’s capabilities.

Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live.

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And since curiosity has no age limit – adults, let us know what you’re wondering, too. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.

Christopher Nichols, Professor of History, The Ohio State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

The science section of our news blog STM Daily News provides readers with captivating and up-to-date information on the latest scientific discoveries, breakthroughs, and innovations across various fields. We offer engaging and accessible content, ensuring that readers with different levels of scientific knowledge can stay informed. Whether it’s exploring advancements in medicine, astronomy, technology, or environmental sciences, our science section strives to shed light on the intriguing world of scientific exploration and its profound impact on our daily lives. From thought-provoking articles to informative interviews with experts in the field, STM Daily News Science offers a harmonious blend of factual reporting, analysis, and exploration, making it a go-to source for science enthusiasts and curious minds alike. https://stmdailynews.com/category/science/

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