Texas Launches Project Nexus to Test Electric Air Taxis, Including Joby eVTOL Flights Near DFW
Why It MattersThe program signals a coordinated state-level push to build regulatory and infrastructure groundwork for electric air taxi networks ahead of eventual commercial passenger service in Texas.
Texas has begun testing next-generation aircraft under Project Nexus, a three-year program run by the Texas Department of Transportation aimed at preparing electric air taxis for use in Texas skies. The first phase launched earlier this month using traditional helicopters and fixed-wing planes to test routes and collect data, with no passengers carried during those initial flights.
Joby Aviation also conducted a week-long campaign of piloted electric vertical takeoff and landing flights across North Texas under TxDOT's Project Nexus proposal, part of the federal eVTOL Integration Pilot Program. The campaign included planned direct flights into Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, landing at DFW Corporate Aviation, a round trip to Arlington, and a route connecting Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport with Toyota Motor North America's headquarters in Plano. Joby has leased a 45,000-square-foot facility at Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport as its North Texas operating base.
Joby says the FAA and NASA began studying electric air taxi integration in North Texas in 2018, and in 2023 Joby and NASA ran a simulation examining whether the DFW terminal area could handle up to 50 electric air taxi operations per hour. Later phases of Project Nexus are expected to focus on medical and cargo logistics between rural facilities and urban medical centers in Austin and San Antonio, with a final phase planning passenger flights across the Texas Triangle connecting Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston. No firm commercial launch date has been set, as Joby still has aircraft certification work ahead.
