Toyota puts another $500 million into an air taxi startup Joby

Toyota is investing another $500 million into Joby Aviation to support the air taxi startup’s certification and commercial production of electric VTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) aircrafts for use in a ride-hailing service. The automaker has now invested a total of $894 million since 2018.

Toyota’s investment will come in the form of two $250 million tranches, the first of which will be completed this year, and the second in 2025. The automaker also will establish a manufacturing alliance with Joby for the first commercialization phase. The companies had signed an agreement in 2023 to let Toyota make powertrain components for Joby’s air taxi.

Joby Aviation is based in California and is run by JoeBen Brevirt, who started the company in 2009. The company ran under the radar until its big $100 million investment round in 2018, which included participation from Intel, Toyota, and JetBlue.

The money helped Joby develop a prototype and conduct test flights for it on a private airfield in Northern California. Toyota liked what it saw and sent its own engineers over to work side-by-side with Joby Aviation.

Joby’s all-electric aircraft has six rotors and seats five, including the pilot. The vehicle can take off vertically, like a helicopter, and then shift into forward flight using tilt rotors. Joby says it can reach a top speed of 200mph, travel 150 miles on a single battery charge, and is 100 times quieter than a conventional aircraft.

The company recently performed a few exhibition flights in Manhattan and plans to start flying commercial passengers in cities like New York and Los Angeles in 2025.