SunTrax/FDOT Head Florida Man Governor Ron DeSantis announced the sunshiniest State's plans to keep itself at the forefront of aerospace and aviation, despite NASA doing a pretty good job of that lately, by going all-in on VTOLs (Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft). Ok, it's not all-in on the VTOLs per se, but Monday, DeSantis signed Florida legislation that will let the state foot upwards of 100% of the bill to build a bunch of vertiports for those flying cars and taxis that are most certainly happening very soon and not a far-off promise that keeps getting pushed just a few years down the line. DeSantis' and Florida Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue's plans are an aspirational answer to the state's issues with traffic congestion that doesn't involve something icky like building public transit. But the plans also put Florida ahead in the flying-taxi game with creating infrastructure to support such a Jetsons-like future. That is, if that future ever exists. Florida's plan to support VTOLs and take traffic to the skies has been steadily in the making, building off inspiration from DeSantis and Perdue's Paris Air Show visit last summer, where (with the wide-eyed delight of children) were able to experience prototype VTOLs in person. The experience piqued DeSantis' from "mildly interested" to "mildly excited." In October, DeSantis announced a partnership with SunTrax, Florida's Department of Transportation testing facility, which would be ground zero for building this future "aerial network" for the state. Florida: The Soon-To-Be Hottest Aerial Testing Bed In The Country Florida Department of Transportation Building vertiports can get Florida ahead of the game, as there is currently only one "vertiport" in the country — in Chicago. The amusing part is if you go to the real Vertiport Chicago website it promotes its air taxi services, but the only vehicles available are personal planes and helicopters. It's not necessarily misleading because their site does deal with drones apparently, but as a whole, their air taxi service itself is not promoting VTOLs. Actual vertiports are in the works for dozens of states, but none are realized yet as of this writing. This is where Florida's SunTrax comes in. SunTrax is FDOT's research and development facility for the state's ground and air transportation. According to its website, the site offers 212 acres of land for "an integrated environment where innovations in next-generation aviation, autonomous vehicles, connected vehicles, and infrastructure can be developed simultaneously in a secure environment." So, safety first kids. There should be two vertiports well underway construction-wise on FDOT's testing grounds, as DeSantis stated in his October 2025 announcement. With those eventually completed, aerial testing can realistically begin. From there, the State's hopes are to build more vertiports to get the people of Florida off its roads and flying between its towns and cities. There's even a whole map with the state's aerial network laid out, as you can see above, divided into phases for rollout. But there's just one other problem.... Where Are The VTOLs? Archer It sounds like a forward-thinking idea until you start really digging into what's actually going on with them. Jalopnik has been following VTOLs for quite a time, and, while prototypes, demos and promises have been a-plenty, actual production has been nil. One example of those promises is from United Airlines, in partnership with Archer, which announced in 2023 that they wanted their future electric flying taxis in Chicago by 2025. But in 2025 they instead announced their long-awaited air taxi, and "launched" their San Francisco air network. The video maps out the locations of what this network looks like, with hubs in Napa, Oakland, Livermore, and San Jose. There's no date for when things will actually start, but with a viable craft, and a network planned, it seemed more realistic and soon-ish. Granted, getting a viable air traffic network up and running is probably a headache, so a year after the fact maybe isn't enough time. That, and you do need places to test land these flight vehicles, which is where Florida and these vertiports come in. Who Is This Aerial Network Really For? Sharrocks/Getty Images Even when DeSantis and FDOT begin spending Florida tax-payer money to build this network and if VTOLs become available for this short-stint air travel, its network usage will likely be limited to the state's array of wealthy, tax-dodging citizens because most of these vehicles cost well past the half-million dollar mark. And the state's boomer retirees won't be shucking their retirement fund for something they can't even fly on their own (nor would we want them to). But DeSantis and Perdue are convinced this will be a turning point for Florida's economic growth. In the October announcement of the partnership with SunTrax, Perdue said that this project would be a way to support the private sector's success, giving them "speed to market," by cutting through red tape, so they can "operate quickly" and get those profits. And yes, access to testing grounds for that growth can do that. But then you need the vehicles, and affordable availability (who is this for?), and the rest of the network. Are air taxis a far-distant future? Maybe not. Will they be something accessible to you and me? Likely not as well, or unclear at the moment. And will this plan fix Florida's traffic congestion in the near future? Well, for now, all we can do is let the kids play with their toy airplanes a bit longer while Floridians sit in traffic.
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