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Archer Aviation has built a manufacturing facility for its electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft in Covington, Georgia.
Credit: Archer Aviation
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Lawmakers Huddle: Georgia on the verge of 'transportation revolution'
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LISTEN: In this week's Lawmakers Huddle, GPB's Donna Lowry talks to Republican Rep. Todd Jones about Georgia becoming a leader in urban transportation and legislation for air taxis in the state.
You may soon see air taxis flying above you as you're traveling on Georgia interstates.
Beginning July 1, a new law gives the Georgia Department of Transportation authority to regulate electric vertical takeoff and landing, or EVTOL, aircraft.
In this week's Lawmakers Huddle, GPB's Donna Lowry explains how The Jetsons cartoon of the past will now become part of the present reality in Georgia.
TRANSCRIPT:
Donna Lowry: Georgia is poised to become a leader in the use of urban transportation — small vehicles flying around from one part of the state to another. One of the leading visionaries at the Georgia Capitol who has worked for years to make it happen joins me: Republican Rep. Todd Jones of South Forsyth chairs the House Committee on Technology and Infrastructure Innovation. Chairman Jones, thank you for coming on Lawmakers Huddle.
Todd Jones: Well, thank you so much for the invitation. We sure do appreciate it.
Donna Lowry: Before we delve into the new law regarding air taxis in Georgia, could you provide us with an overview of what they are and how they will operate?
Todd Jones: Sure. Well, let's take a step backward if you don't mind, because we are about to have a transportation revolution.
We are going to be seeing, believe it or not, your products being delivered by drones at the end of this year from several northern arc Walmarts, and that's going to expand statewide in 2026.
Tesla kicked off their robo-taxis, and simultaneously, Waymo in Atlanta has kicked off. So, we're going to see, through the rest of 2025 and the rest of 2026, we're gonna see this explosion of autonomous vehicles literally hitting our streets. And then finally, we are going to be looking in the air, just like you said, Donna, and saying wait, we're taking traffic off of the streets. We're taking cargo traffic off of the streets. And at first, we're going to see them moving around lily pad to lily pad is what I call them; they're formally called vertiports. But ultimately, we're gonna start seeing several of our key cities really pieced together, and you're gonna have the option to literally take it to the skies instead of to the road.
Donna Lowry: Explain what it took to understand and develop the legislation over this brand-new transportation mode.
Todd Jones: We're gonna have the vertiports underneath the Department of Transportation. Because other than Hartsfield, all of our general aviation facilities in the state are underneath the Georgia Department of Transportation. The second thing we needed to do was start to get different cities excited about being first. 'Cause let's face it, sometimes government doesn't want to be first. Sometimes they'd rather see someone else be the tip of the spear and they come behind them after someone else makes those mistakes. Well, we've seen Alpharetta, and we've seen Roswell step up already, and both of them have plans in action to go along the 400 corridor.
These are vertical takeoff and landing vehicles. They are not in need of a, quote "runway" like you see at Hartsfield or PDK or Charlie Brown in Atlanta, but rather a vertiport is gonna be about 43,000 square feet, which is about 1 acre. And that's gonna have four landing facilities. All four will have the power generation from, say, a Georgia Power or one of our EMCs that has all of the electric power going into the EVTOL so they will be charged in 15 minutes.
Donna Lowry: We're talking a quick turnaround.
Todd Jones: We believe in the free market. So, we want basically all the operators to go to any vertiport. That's super important to create competition and to create a price structure that we believe will be along the lines of an Uber XL or an Uber Black. So imagine having the price surety of an Uber XL to an Uber Black, but also having the traffic security knowing you no longer have to put in, well, if I'm leaving at seven in the morning, chances are as a two-hour drive to Hartsfield versus it being literally a 15-minute flight to Hartsfield.
Donna Lowry: How soon will we see some of these air taxis — like, the first one go up?
Todd Jones: We hope the first flight basically kicks off the World Cup here in Atlanta in July of 2026.
Donna Lowry: Who knew when Hannah-Barbera created the animated show The Jetsons in the 1960s that we'd actually see it come to life this way. Thank you so much, Chairman Todd Jones.
Todd Jones: Thank you, Donna.
Donna Lowry: Rep. Jones has much more to say about safety issues, other plans in the works. You can hear the extended interview on the GPB podcast Battleground Ballot Box. For Lawmakers Huddle, I'm Donna Lowry.
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