Polk County is about to become a major testing ground for the future of transportation—flying electric cars, or what the state calls “Air Taxis.”
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) presented plans to county leaders to turn the SunTrax facility (that big highway testing track in Auburndale) into the state’s main location for developing this technology.
What is Advanced Air Mobility (AAM)?
Simple Term: Air Taxis.
What they are: Small, electric aircraft that take off and land straight up and down, like a giant drone. They are called eVTOLs (Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing).
The Goal: To offer a new way for people and cargo to travel short to medium distances by flying over traffic, especially in busy areas like Central Florida. FDOT hopes to have these Air Taxis running commercially by late 2026.
What Does the SunTrax Expansion Mean?
The big plan is to massively expand the SunTrax campus over the next few years (in four phases) to build everything needed to test and support these Air Taxis.
Phase 1: The Landing Pads (Vertiports): They will start by building special landing pads—like small, advanced helipads—that will also have charging stations for the electric aircraft. This creates a dedicated “test track in the sky.”
Phase 2: Big Support Centers: The campus will grow to include large maintenance hangars (like giant garages for the planes) and will even build a 3,000-foot runway to test different flight scenarios.
Phase 3: The HQ: The final phase includes a new, multi-story research and development building. This building will even have a vertiport on the roof and a special passenger lounge, showing what future Air Taxi stations might look like.
In short: Polk County is becoming the place where they figure out how to safely and effectively launch the next generation of transportation—electric Air Taxis—with a goal of having them flying commercially very soon.
Just don’t make the same mistake Pan Am did with its NYC helicopter service.