Joby Aviation Gets FAA Approval to Start Flight Tests of Electric Air Taxi

This image provided by Joby Aviation shows the conceptual design of the Joby S2 Electric VTOL PAV aircraft. (Joby Aviation via AP)

Joby Aviation received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for test flights of its electric air taxi after receiving a $100 million investment from South Korea’s SK Telecom.

Joby announced on June 23 that the federal aviation regulator gave the nod to start tests of its flying air taxi, as the innovative design steps closer to receiving approvals for commercial operations, causing sales to surge.

The special air-worthiness certificate from the FAA for its first aircraft built at the company’s production line will allow Joby to start test flying its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft prototype without passengers.

The certificate will keep the company on track to launch commercial passenger operations by 2025.

eVTOL aircraft are compact, quiet, and easy-to-fly vehicles, which are also known in popular imagination as flying cars.

The futuristic model may be eventually used as air taxis to take people to airports,by flying above ground traffic or making short commuter flights.

Joby Gets a Head Start Over Competition From the FAA

Joby has been building and flying pre-production prototypes since 2017 and has raised money by going public via a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in August 2021.

Joby ended the first quarter 2023 with about $1 billion of cash and analysts project that the firm will use about $400 million annually in the next few years.

The same day as the FAA approval, the California-based company added that Toyota North America’s CEO, Tetsuo Ogawa, will join its board on July 1.

Toyota is Joby’s largest external investor and has poured about $400 million into the commercial aviation start-up.

On April 23, the two firms agreed to sign a long-term supply agreement in which the Japanese automaker agreed to provide Joby with powertrain and other components for the full production of its aircraft.

“Toyota is the best company in the world when it comes to designing and building for reliability and then being able to make very complex assemblies at massive scale,” Joby founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt told Axios,

However, Bevirt admitted that Joby is still in the “crawl phase” of production and that its manufacturing processes, as well as its aircraft, have yet to be validated by the FAA before it can move to full-scale production.

“The machine that builds the machine is a significant thing,” Bevirt stated, but he hopes that the light aircraft could begin shuttling passengers as soon as 2025, pending FAA certification.

No electric air taxi manufacturer in the United States and Europe has yet to receive full approval for commercial flight.

The Epoch Times reached out to Joby Aviation for comment.

Toyota Provides Major Support to eVTOL Hopeful

Unlike its rival eVTOL manufacturers, which plan to sell aircraft to customers such as airlines and logistics companies, Joby intends to follow a business model similar to a rideshare app.

Joby said it will deliver two electric aircraft to Edwards Air Force Base in March 2024 as part of its $131 million contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to test the eVTOL models with the U.S. Air Force after its initial flight.

The Air Force intends to use the eVTOLs for passenger and cargo transportation and would be Joby’s first major customer.

The next step for Joby is the 2025 launch of its commercial passenger services, and has already formed a partnership with Delta Airlines to shuttle passengers to and from airports.

Meanwhile, in California, Joby held a demonstration of its new flying taxi to local officials and the media.

Joby’s pilot production plant is in Marina, California, and built its first prototypes with the assistance of Toyota.

“Amazing day at Joby Aviation celebrating the first electric vehicle take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to roll off Joby’s newly built production facilities in Marina,” said Luis Alejo, chairman of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors, in a tweet.

“We heard from Joby’s leadership on the incredible technology behind this aircraft, and got to see its diverse workforce! County of Monterey, City of Marina, State of California, and many partners are working to keep Joby Aviation in Monterey County.”

“They are looking to build a site to manufacture these electric cutting-edge aircraft that could create up to 1,800 additional jobs! We want to see these ‘Made in Monterey County’ by local residents,” said Alejo.

Dozens of Companies Rush to Become First Air Taxi Manufacturer

Joby is expected to compete in an already crowded market, with dozens of other developers such as Archer Aviation, Volocoptor, and Vertical Aerospace, each of which are also in the race to revolutionize urban transportation in the next couple of years.

Rival eVTOL firms were recently able to display their own prototypes at the Paris Air Show, which ran from June 19–25 and drew 400,000 attendees.

The air show included electric taxi models from Volocoptor and Archer, which became major attractions.

The French government intends to have a fleet of electric air taxis ready for use around Paris during the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, reported the Associated Press.

Archer Aviation of Georgia received the greenlight for flight tests in 2021, but certification deadlines for eVTOL makers keep on delaying its first flight.

The Georgia firm formed a manufacturing partnership with automaker Stellantis and said that the two were pivoting from the “concept” to “execution” phase, with a new factory in the Peach State.

The manufacturing facility is “well underway” and is on track to come online by mid-2024, the company said.

Electra Aero recently unveiled its own alternative air taxi variant with an ultra-short takeoff and landing plane that uses a hybrid powertrain and “blown lift” technology to take off.

Electra said it would be ready to fly a full-scale prototype in 2025, and seeks to get FAA certification by 2028.

Another eVTOL maker, Vertical Aerospace, delayed its launch last month and said that commercial service will start a year past its original deadline in 2026.

“We believe the industry as a whole will experience some timeline corrections, and we are already seeing signs of peers acknowledging this,” Vertical said in a letter to shareholders in May.

In 2022, Germany’s Lilium also pushed its deadline forward by setting its launch for 2025 from 2024.

Volocopter, another German eVTOL hopeful, is seeking to gain regulatory approval and become the supplier for the Paris Olympic games next year.

“The Olympics are our North Star,” Dirk Hoke, CEO of Volocopte, told Reuters.

Volocopter aims to beat Joby by beating it to the 2024 milestone first.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.