Toyota wants own flying electric taxi: Here's how it's going to get it

The Japanese brand is allocating €500 million to support Joby Aviation, an eVTOL start-up.

Joby Aviation's electric flying taxi

Photo by: InsideEVs

By: Francesco Barontini

Published by: Brian Potter

Oct 9, 2024 at 3:54am ET

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Toyota is to manufacture an electric car. The automaker has always said that it would throw itself wholeheartedly into zero-emission mobility, but for the moment it seems to be lagging a little behind the competition. But that doesn't mean that the group isn't paying attention to new forms of mobility. Indeed, the company's management is also very active on the flying electric taxis front.

Toyota will be developing these in collaboration with the Californian start-up Joby Aviation, which is doing just that: designing and producing eVTOL (i.e. electric aircraft with vertical take-off and landing) for taxi services in major cities.

€500 million more in two years

Toyota has been a long-standing supporter of Joby Aviation and has already invested more than €350 million in the start-up. It is now going to invest a further sum of around €500 million (approx. £419 million) to enable the company to continue developing and marketing its own aircraft, currently produced in triplicate to validate the project and receive all the necessary authorisations to transport people.

The money pledged by Toyota will be disbursed in two equal instalments: the first will arrive by the end of 2024 and the second in 2025. Joe Ben Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby Aviation, commented on the agreement :

"This new investment seals seven years of collaboration between our companies. Toyota's support has been fundamental in getting us to where we are and will enable us to make great progress in the future."

Money after knowledge?

But the commitment of Toyota does not stop there. The brand is also committed to passing on to the start-up its knowledge of process management, the development of new production methods, and the design of the tools needed to improve overall efficiency and the organisation of logistics. Tetsuo Ogawa, who signed the agreement on behalf of Toyota, said:

"We are delighted that this additional investment will enable Joby to certify and move its aircraft into commercial production. We share Joby's vision that sustainable flight will play a central role in meeting the mobility challenges of our time."

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