Joby and Toyota deepen ties with extend eVTOL partnership

As Joby's largest partner, Toyota is making a major investment in eVTOLs as a practical transportation system for cities and regional use, much like how helicopters are used to ferry people around and to and from cities to suburban locations just outside of them. Joby's ambition though is to expand this form of transportation far beyond existing VTOL infrastructure as it exists today. Deepening its partnership with Toyota definitely helps that ambition get one step closer to reality.

"We are very pleased to have reached this milestone with our key partner," Toyota Motor Corporation Connected Company president Keiji Yamamoto said, according to Electrek. "Our mutual goal is mass production of eVTOL and helping Joby apply the best practices of the Toyota Production System in meeting high quality, reliability, safety, and strict cost standards. We are excited about the potential for further collaboration as we seek to realize Mobility for All with a seamlessly integrated air-to-ground mobility network.

Will eVTOLs ever get off the ground?

The eVTOL has been around for a few years in preproduction or in very limited use, with nothing quite reaching the kind of mass production that proponents have been aiming for. The future of "flying electric taxis" has been long on hype, but short on delivery for some time now, and while Joby has been a major player on the scene, they are hardly the only company hoping to get their eVTOL operation off the ground.

Swedish firm Jetson recently made news with the release of its first flying car, the Jetson One, while Australian VTOL firm AMSL Aero has successfully tested its Vertiia VTOL electric-hydrogen hybrid that has a range of 620 miles (though that aircraft is still very early in its preproduction phase).

Still, many eVTOLs are languishing in development, and you wouldn't be blamed for being somewhat skeptical. With the new announcement of Toyota's deepening involvement in Joby's production, however, there is at least some reason for optimism that one of these eVTOLs might actually reach a critical mass and usher in a new era of electric transportation.