Al Root
Self-driving cars are something investors are getting used to. But self-flying air taxis?
Shares of Archer Aviation climbed on Thursday after the aircraft maker announced a partnership with chip maker Nvidia at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
In late-morning trading, the stock was up 3.3% at $8.70. The S&P 500 was essentially flat and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5%.
Archer, which produces electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOL, and Nvidia will develop the "next generation of artificial intelligence technologies for aviation using the NVIDIA IGX Thor platform," the announcement said.
Thor is Nvidia's computing platform for mobility applications. Investors can think of it as the brain that operates a vehicle. The IGX is essentially short for the industrial-grade version of the product.
Archer will integrate IGX Thor into its Midnight eVTOL, an air taxi. Like the automotive industry, autonomous technology won't jump straight to pilot-free planes.
In cars, adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assistance, and even Tesla's Full-Self Driving product, which can do most of the driving most of the time, are supervised by humans and make driving easier and safer. That's the initial goal of IGX Thor. But the system will be capable of autonomous flight.
Coming into Thursday trading, the stock was about 24% over the past 12 months. Investors might be waiting for regulators to sign off on Archer's eVOTL for commercial service. The company is targeting service in the Middle East for the middle of this year and in the U.S. sometime in 2027.
Archer's eVTOL technology, while a little like a helicopter, is designed to be quieter and safer, opening up new markets for air-taxi services.
Auto maker Stellantis will help Archer manufacture the Midnight eVTOL after regulators given their go-ahead.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
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January 08, 2026 11:23 ET (16:23 GMT)
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