Archer hires Uber Elevate co-founder Nikhil Goel

Archer Aviation has appointed former Uber air taxi division executive, Nikhil Goel as chief commercial officer. 

In a move Archer said will target untapped demand in the US and global markets, Goel will lead Archer’s commercialisation efforts as it prepares to enter into service in 2025.  Archer’s commercialisation strategy begins with a focus on bringing New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco online as initial domestic markets. It intends to capture international demand through partnerships in markets such as the Middle East, Asia and Latin America.

Adam Goldstein, Archer’s Founder and CEO, said: “Having recently travelled around the world to the largest international markets and seen firsthand how strong the demand for our aircraft is outside the U.S, it’s clear that now is the right time to make this strategic hire and bring Nikhil on to capitalise on the sizeable market opportunity for domestic and global expansion. Since day one, we’ve laid out an aggressive goal to be the first to bring an eVTOL aircraft to the UAM market, and adding Nikhil to our senior leadership team significantly bolsters our efforts to reach that goal.” 

Archer is confident of his experience, having jointly authored the Uber Elevate white paper it said is widely credited with establishing the vision for the commercial eVTOL industry. Before he co-founded Uber Elevate, Goel started as a product leader on the emerging markets and rider experience teams. In 2020, he helped spin off the Uber Elevate business in a sale to Joby Aviation. Goel has also been a senior advisor to Archer since 2020 and prior to Uber held roles at McKinsey & Company, Google, Microsoft, and NASA.

Goel said his career has been focused on transforming the way people move in and around cities and enabling the future of on-demand, urban air transportation. “I’ve been working with Adam and the team for several years, and I believe Archer is the most well-positioned eVTOL aircraft OEM to make this vision a reality with the industry’s leading team and product. It’s an honour to join the company as chief commercial officer and lead our path to market,” he added.