Florida DOT Stages eVTOL 'Flying Car' Demonstration Flight Between Tampa and St. Petersburg
Why It MattersFlorida is positioning itself as an advanced air mobility testbed by pairing state funding for vertiports with federal pilot-program flights, which lowers infrastructure barriers for eVTOL developers.
The Florida Department of Transportation held a piloted electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) demonstration flight between Tampa and St. Petersburg on Friday. The flight was part of the Federal Aviation Administration's eVTOL and Advanced Air Mobility Integration Pilot Program and was promoted as replicating the route of the world's first scheduled commercial passenger flight, the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, first piloted by Antony Jannus. That open-cockpit flight crossed about 22 miles of Tampa Bay in roughly 23 minutes.
Speaking at Tampa International Airport, Governor Ron DeSantis said the aircraft could potentially serve as an air taxi service, operating like a rideshare, and could also be used for cargo delivery, medical transportation and emergency response missions. Department of Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue said the effort aims to bring regional air connectivity back to Florida and to test supporting infrastructure, including vertiports, connected and autonomous technology, and air traffic control management software.
The Tampa demonstration kicked off a week of piloted electric air taxi flights across Florida, with the next stops in Orlando and the Space Coast. The technology remains experimental, with fully electric, certified two-seater planes available for training. Florida has worked to become a testing ground for companies such as Joby Aviation and BETA Technologies.
Legislation signed earlier this year (HB 1093) allows the DOT to fund 100 percent of the costs of a public vertiport if federal funds are unavailable; if federal funds are available, the DOT may fund up to 80 percent of the nonfederal share. In 2025, the state designated the SunTrax test facility in Polk County to research and help develop an aerial highway network, and 2025 legislation directed the transportation department to develop an advanced air mobility plan with the Department of Commerce, aimed at identifying corridors of need and opportunities for industry growth.
