Monterey Bay DART report tracks regional advanced air mobility infrastructure work

Monterey Bay Drone, Aviation & Robotics Technology (DART) has published an impact report covering the first two and a half years of the Monterey Bay Tech Hub Infrastructure Working Group, spanning 2024 to 2026. The nonprofit presents the document as a reference for other regions weighing how to fold advanced air mobility into their economic development planning. DART has run the working group since the Tech Hub formed in March 2024. It meets monthly and brings together airport managers, state agencies, advanced air mobility companies and research institutions to coordinate infrastructure and workforce spending across the Central Coast. Membership has reached more than 25 active organisations, and the group held 28 sessions through September 2026. The report credits the working group as the coordination point behind the proposal for the California Advanced Air Mobility Corridors Initiative, a $7.45 million award made to the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership on behalf of the Tech Hub in August 2025. That money funds planning and infrastructure work at the municipal airports in Watsonville, Marina, Salinas and Hollister. Members also contributed to the region's response to the Federal Aviation Administration's Center for Advanced Aviation Technologies request for information and to a Caltrans-led proposal for the eVTOL and AAM Integration Pilot Program. Other material in the report includes the SOAR AAM readiness study and a Monterey to San Jose air taxi case study, presentations from ten speakers including representatives of the FAA, Joby Aviation, Siemens, Wisk Aero and BETA Technologies, and public comments DART filed on the S.B. 800 implementation work plan and the FAA's Airport Improvement Program Handbook. Executive Director Josh Metz said the working group forms a central part of the organisation's regional development work. For Santa Cruz County, the most direct stake is Watsonville Municipal Airport, one of four airports in line for planning and infrastructure improvements under the corridors award. The University of California, Santa Cruz is also one of the three founding partners of the Monterey Bay Tech Hub.