If the names Cora or Kitty Hawk sound familiar to you, it’s because they’ve been kicking about in this sector for a while, albeit in varying forms. Kitty Hawk was formed in 2016; a secretive flying-car company that enjoyed the lucrative backing of Google co-founder Larry Page. Under the management of Sebastian Thrun — the Stanford AI expert responsible for Google’s self-driving car unit — the company created the two-seated autonomous aircraft, Cora.

In 2018, Kitty Hawk announced it was teaming up with Air New Zealand to launch the world’s first autonomous air taxi service, but without a major manufacturing partner it turned instead to Boeing, and in 2019 Wisk was born. Its goal is to develop a flying taxi service that can be summoned by an app, and flown by a combination of autopilot systems and a remote human pilot.

This isn’t a new aspiration, of course. Uber has grand plans for its Elevate program, while Germany’s Volocopter made big promises about its own offering. But such projects often fall foul of funding problems, technical difficulties and legislative challenges. If Wisk’s passenger trials go ahead and are successful, the dream of flying taxis may actually start to come to fruition in a tangible way.

Both sides have clear incentives to forge an alliance . Kitty Hawk has already shown promise with Cora (above), an autonomous electric taxi prototype that’s already in testing in New Zealand. However, it’s still a relatively small outfit. Even with former Google exec Sebastian Thrun at the helm and the backing of Google’s Larry Page, it doesn’t have nearly as many resources as industry veterans. Boeing’s help could both give it a safety net and ensure that any finished air taxis reach large customers.

As for Boeing? Simply put, this could help it maintain a competitive edge against Airbus and other rivals. While the aircraft maker already has an autonomous electric taxi prototype, that doesn’t mean it’s completely comfortable with its progress to date. This could help it catch up or pull ahead in areas where it’s currently weak. Whatever the exact reasons, you might sit in an airborne taxi sooner than you think — once the infrastructure is in place, that is.