Newsletter
India’s ePlane Company has partnered with Nvidia to build the country’s first electric air taxi, the e200x. The collaboration is focused on technology and knowledge sharing, not funding.
What is happening: ePlane will use Nvidia Omniverse to create a digital twin of the aircraft, basically a highly detailed virtual replica.
This allows engineers to test flight physics, autonomy software, sensor systems and extreme scenarios in simulation instead of risking costly real-world trials.
The aircraft will also run on Nvidia’s IGX computing platform, which will act as its onboard brain. The first prototype is ready, ground tests begin in a few months, and DGCA certification is the next big milestone.
The how: instead of physically flying thousands of risky test hours, the e200x will “fly” millions of virtual kilometres inside simulation.
This helps train AI algorithms to handle bad weather, system failures and collision scenarios before real flights even begin.
The startup, incubated at IIT Madras, plans to launch in congested metros like Bengaluru, Mumbai and Chennai once testing and approvals are complete.
Bigger perspective: globally, urban air mobility is heating up. Companies like Joby, Archer and Volocopter are racing to commercialise air taxis. The market is expected to become a multi-billion-dollar opportunity over the next decade as cities search for alternatives to gridlocked roads.
US and European firms are already testing passenger flights. In India, the space is still early-stage, giving ePlane a potential first-mover advantage.
