Joby Aviation Partners With Toyota On Air Taxi Development

Joby Aviation announced that it has raised $590 million in its recent round of Series C funding and formed a partnership with the Toyota Motor Corporation aimed at the certification and deployment of all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOLs) for use in air taxi services. As part of the partnership, Toyota Executive Vice President Shigeki Tomoyama will be joining Joby’s board of directors. Toyota contributed $394 million to the California-based aerospace company’s latest funding round.

“We are building a new system for transportation to transform your daily life, at greater safety and, in time, at a similar cost to driving,” said Joby Aviation founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt. “This collaboration with Toyota represents an unprecedented commitment of money and resources for us and this new industry from one of the world’s leading automakers.”

According to Joby, Toyota will “share its expertise in manufacturing, quality, and cost controls to support the development and production of Joby Aviation’s aircraft.” Joby says its unnamed eVTOL is designed to seat four passengers and a pilot, have a top speed of around 200 MPH and a single-charge range of more than 150 miles. Other investors include SPARX Group, Intel Capital, Capricorn Investment Group, JetBlue Technology Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, Baillie Gifford and Global Oryx. The recent round of Series C investments brings the company’s total funding to $720 million.