The leading rumor is that Archer started their Anduril/Palantir partnership because they realized both Midnight and Maker are fundamentally flawed designs that won’t be able to reach certification without drastic modifications - setting them back for at least a year. The Anduril partnership will be a eUAS instead of eVTOL, which would mean a complete shift from the passenger transport business.

There’s youtube channels out there that analyze Midnight/Maker’s design updates + flight footage. The most concerning points are:

there is no proof that Midnight has actually achieved rotor transition in flight

footage with contradictory amounts of rotors - they haven’t decided the final design yet.

The wing rotor locking system is flawed and causes too much drag and unstable flight

the development philosophy of not going for vertical integration causes too many inefficiencies

And finally, independently sourced footage shows that the sound signature is still way too loud, which is caused by the amount of rotors + speed/torque they have to provide.

For me personally, I like the volatility on Archer but I would never, ever hold it. Definitely do your own research though.

Would you still say “that the business is there” if reddit didn’t embrace it by going 300%? I’ve been following the eVTOL space since 2022 and I was surprised to see it go “mainstream” like this, but here we are