Texas has begun testing how electric aircraft might eventually be used for passenger travel through a new three-year Texas Department of Transportation initiative called Project Nexus.
The program's first stage began Sept. 10 at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport, where BETA Technologies and Joby Aviation demonstrated aircraft. Joby's vehicle uses electric propulsion and can take off vertically. No passengers were carried during the initial Project Nexus flights.
The opening phase will use helicopters and airplanes with fixed wings to evaluate potential routes and gather information for future advanced-air-mobility operations. Joby also planned a seven-day series of piloted flights in North Texas through TxDOT's proposal under the federal eVTOL Integration Pilot Program.
The planned missions included direct service into Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, a round trip to Arlington and travel between Alliance Airport and Toyota Motor North America's headquarters in Plano. One test called for a Joby aircraft to enter DFW's controlled airspace and land at DFW Corporate Aviation, placing the aircraft in an operating environment shared with a major commercial airport.
NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration began examining how electric air taxis could be incorporated into North Texas aviation in 2018, according to the report. In 2023, Joby and NASA conducted a simulation that considered whether the DFW terminal area could accommodate up to 50 electric air taxi operations per hour.
