Boeing is to sell its Wisk Aero, SkyGrid and Insitu subsidiaries to Archer Aviation.
The subsidiary companies deal in autonomy, electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). In total, the companies have nearly two million combined flight hours.
As a result, they are expected to bring a deep autonomy foundation to Archer's ZEE artificial intelligence platform.
Describing the acquisition as a ‘watershed’ moment, Archer's Founder and CEO, Adam Goldstein said; “This is the next big step forward in becoming a diversified platform, rapidly growing our revenue base and bringing scale to our business."
As part of the deal, Boeing and Archer are entering into a collaboration and technology-sharing arrangement through which Boeing will retain access to the Wisk core autonomous flight technology for its current and next-generation commercial and defence aircraft.
"This transaction is a win-win for Boeing and Archer," said Brian Yutko, Boeing vice president, Commercial Airplanes Product Development. "It allows Wisk, SkyGrid and Insitu to accelerate capability development and time to market while ensuring Boeing capitalises on its investments in these technologies over the past two decades through continued development in our core businesses”.
