San Antonio Report
by Robert Rivard
August 13, 2023

No offense to Jim Perschbach, the CEO of Port San Antonio, and his ambitious plans for the 1,900-acre defense, tech, aeronautics and learning campus that was formerly home to Kelly Air Force Base. But … flying taxis are what’s next? 

I’ve learned not to doubt Perschbach and his vision for Port San Antonio. Anyone who has been to the Boeing Center at Tech Port or witnessed the incredible job growth out there knows what I mean. And then there’s the futuristic office tower on the drawing board that resembles a monarch butterfly in flight. Perschbach has a record of delivering. Big ideas become projects that actually get done.

That said, I don’t plan on being in line in the likely event Perschbach and his team offer journalists the chance to ride in flying taxis after the Port San Antonio vertiport opens there for business.

What’s a vertiport? It’s a terminal for eVTOLs. Get used to that acronym, because you’ll be hearing about it more and more. It’s shorthand for electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, also known as flying cars. Both established aeronautic companies and various startups are busy perfecting the technology. The Federal Aviation Administration issued guidelines in May encouraging cities to build the necessary infrastructure. 

Vertiports could open in San Antonio and in other cities as soon as 2028. Limited operations in some cities might introduce the technology to consumers as early as 2025. Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation, both based in California, are the farthest along of the various air taxi companies working on prototypes.

Perschbach is eager for San Antonio to be among the cities offering first-generation air taxi service. It will give a whole new meaning to rideshare.

I plan on watching from the ground while other daredevils board the vehicles and zip through the skies to downtown office buildings or San Antonio International Airport. It was one thing to volunteer to ride through the city on an electric scooter when they first arrived in San Antonio in 2018. It’s entirely something else to volunteer to be an early bird for air taxi service.

Wait a minute: Is there going to be a human pilot aboard? Some of the coverage I am reading about vertiports in other cities hedges the issue, or uses words like “maybe” and “possibly.”

I like knowing if there is a pilot in the cockpit before I fly.

“Initially, here at the Port, they are going to be both autonomous and piloted — and also in between,” Perschbach told me last week. “What’s exciting is that our campus is a place to support development of the technology by integrating AI, robotics, cybersecurity, ergonomics, human performance and other sectors as well as developing systems and protocols for their safe navigation in different environments and circumstances.”

Busy vertiports buzzing with eVTOLs landing, taking off and navigating low altitude airspace are being treated as a very real thing from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles by urban planners. And by Port San Antonio. There is good coverage of the topic on SmartCitiesDive, one of the digital media sites that covers innovation in cities.

“When the airlines first took to the skies, they hired famous actors to pose getting in and out of DC-3s, so regular people would see Hollywood stars trusting the airlines and follow them aboard,” Perschbach told me some months ago when he first showed me a rendering of the vertiport.

Call Barbie and Ken to handle the promotional work, Jim. I’m keeping my feet on the ground, at least for a probationary period. Call me a dinosaur, but I don’t intend to climb into a Tesla, either, if some friend insists on showing off an early version of the “Full Self-Driving” feature. I’m a “both hands on the wheel” kind of guy. My riskiest behavior is riding a road bike on city streets in San Antonio.

… I say that now, but show me someone going from San Antonio to Austin in 30 minutes while I am idling on Interstate 35 for two hours, and I’ll probably change my mind.