Rishabh Mosalpuria
Toyota Motor Corporation announced an investment $500 million in Joby Aviation. Joby aviation develops electric air taxis for commercial passenger service. Toyota committed to the investment due to the shared vision of air mobility between the two companies. This investment will help them support the certification and commercial production of electric air taxi.
The investment is divided between two equal tranches. It will be subjected to standard regulatory approvals and certain other conditions, finalization of collaborative and commercial agreements and, with respect to the second tranche, the finalization of terms related to a strategic alliance focused on commercial manufacturing and certain other conditions. With this investment, Toyota Motor Corporation’s total investment in Joby will rise up to $894 million. The medium for investment will be in the form of cash for common stock, with the first tranche targeted to close later this year and the second in 2025.
Joby is continuing their progress in the field of commercialization as they launch their third aircraft off their pilot production line in Marina, California. Further, the company started construction of an expanded facility in California that will more than double the Company’s manufacturing footprint. In August 2024, Joby confirmed that fourth of five stages of the type certification process is now more than one-third complete on their end. Since 2019, apart from monetary investments, Toyota has been investing time and human resources to share expertise of the Toyota Production System via process planning, manufacturing method development, and tooling design. Toyota engineers now work along with the Joby team in California. In 2023, the two companies signed a long-term agreement for Toyota to provide key powertrain and actuation components to produce Joby’s aircraft.
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The US government and corporations are also taking initiatives in the field of electric air taxis to better facilitate the commuters and develop the future infrastructure of this new medium of travel. Recently, United Therapeutics, a US based biotechnology company, required a vehicle to transport lifesaving medical equipment, organs and tissue, and the support teams in order to help save lives. BETA Technologies, an aerospace company manufacturing electric flight, took the task to develop such vehicle and were successful. They developed an electric aircraft called ALIA, which was an eVTOL (Electric Vertical Take-off and Landing) and eCTOL (Electric Conventional Take-off and Landing) aircraft. UPS, an American multinational shipping company, saw the same product and acquired it with modification to fit their cargo demand. UPS saw the opportunity the aircraft held with the amount of cargo space and BETA team created a cargo option of the aircraft to serve this demand.
JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby Aviation said on the occasion that “Today’s investment builds on nearly seven years of collaboration between our companies. The knowledge and support shared by Toyota has been instrumental in Joby’s success and we look forward to deepening our relationship as we deliver on our shared vision for the future of air travel.” “With this additional investment, we are excited to see Joby certify their aircraft and shift to commercial production,” said Tetsuo “Ted” Ogawa, who signed the agreement as the Operating Officer on behalf of Toyota Motor Corporation. “We share Joby’s view that sustainable flight will be central to alleviating today’s persistent mobility challenges.”
Joby aviation displayed their aircraft at Grand Central Terminal in New York City on 2-5 October 2024. The event attracted the attention of many, highlighting the potential and expectations electrical aircraft holds for our future. Air taxi commute is still a technology in progress but looks optimistic for our shared dream of sustainable future and with such investments, the dream may not be far from reality.
