Archer Aviation has completed several days of piloted demonstration flights with its all-electric Midnight air taxi across California’s San Francisco Bay Area. The flights, part of the company’s No Roads tour, included multiple takeoffs and landings at Oakland International Airport and covered more than 200 miles across seven cities in three days, with a reported top speed of 131 mph.
The campaign began in Salinas and included stops in Hollister, San Martin, San Jose, Mountain View and Hayward before reaching Oakland. Archer used the flights to demonstrate Midnight’s operation in increasingly complex urban airspace around San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose international airports.
A flight from Oakland to San Francisco’s Marina District took approximately 10 minutes, compared with more than an hour by car in traffic. The aircraft’s operation in the metropolitan environment also provided a public demonstration of an eVTOL outside a dedicated test site, while highlighting its low noise, zero operating emissions and ability to bypass congested roads.
The Bay Area campaign has concluded, and Midnight is moving to Los Angeles for the next stage of the tour. The activity is linked to preparations for the US government-backed eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, which is intended to support future commercial-use cases and airspace integration. The flights remain a demonstration campaign; they do not represent commercial passenger service or final type certification.