Piloted vs autonomous, long vs short hop
Air-taxi makers are not building the same vehicle. Joby and Archer bet on piloted, ~100-mile aircraft; EHang and Volocopter fly shorter, often autonomous hops. The range spec reveals the strategy.
It is tempting to lump all eVTOLs together, but the leaders are pursuing genuinely different products, and the clearest tell is design range. Joby and Archer build piloted aircraft with roughly 100 miles (about 160 km) of range, aimed at airport-to-city and inter-city trips with a human pilot in command — a model that fits existing aviation regulation more naturally. EHang and Volocopter take the opposite tack: shorter-range vehicles, often autonomous with no onboard pilot, designed for short urban hops and tourism routes.
The tradeoffs run deep. Longer range and a pilot make certification more conventional and the missions more useful, but add weight, cost and a crew. Autonomy and short hops promise lower operating cost and simpler vehicles, but lean on harder-to-certify self-flying software and a narrower set of routes.
Neither is obviously right, which is why the tracker shows design range alongside certification rather than crowning a single leader. The number is not a quality score — a 30 km autonomous shuttle and a 160 km piloted taxi are answering different questions — but it makes each company's bet legible, so you can judge progress against the strategy it actually chose.