Toyota Pours More Money Into Air Taxi Company Joby Aviation

by Chris Teague

Published: October 2nd, 2024

toyota pours more money into air taxi company joby aviation

Flying cars are a thing, though it’s hard to imagine a world where they become anything slightly resembling mainstream. That hasn’t stopped Toyota from pouring funds into Joby Aviation, a company focused on making eVTOL (vertical takeoff and landing) air taxis, making it one of a few automakers deeply invested in the space.

Toyota said it would invest $500 million into Joby Aviation with a goal of supporting its certification efforts and manufacturing. Toyota’s COO, Tesuo Ogawa, said, “With this additional investment, we are excited to see Joby certify their aircraft and shift to commercial production. Toyota said it would issue the funds in two distributions, with the first this year and the next in 2025, pushing its investment in the company to $894 million.

While Stellantis, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, and Geely have invested in the space, flying cars, taxis, and other vehicles represent a significant challenge to safety and logistics. Road users have to deal with distracted drivers, people in Nissans, and several other hazards, but there’s at least solid ground under their tires.

Air taxis obviously don’t have that benefit, but a crowded airspace likely presents a more significant problem. Training people to operate the vehicles is one thing, but managing skies packed with news and police helicopters, small aircraft, and air taxis could be a big challenge. Commercial aircraft fly at much higher altitudes and likely would not be part of the problem.

[Images: Joby Aviation]

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#Toyota #jobyaviation #FlyingCars #airtaxis

Chris Teague

Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.

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2 of 7 comments

Jstr269 41 minutes ago
As a long time Nissan driver, I kindly suggest avoiding CVT applications in aircraft.

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FreedMike 33 minutes ago
I'll say this for Toyota - for a company that's as deeply conservative as they are, they aren't afraid to put money into new tech - hydrogen propulsion, solid state batteries, you name it.

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Recent Comments

Bkojote The Chevrolet Colorado, the official truck of "We have a Tacoma at home!"
Akear It is time for a dealership strike!
FreedMike I'll say this for Toyota - for a company that's as deeply conservative as they are, they aren't afraid to put money into new tech - hydrogen propulsion, solid state batteries, you name it.
Jstr269 As a long time Nissan driver, I kindly suggest avoiding CVT applications in aircraft.
ScarecrowRepair The limited range and payload of vertical lift makes these extremely unlikely to ever, ahem, take off, unless they can make batteries 10 times better. Helicopters from downtown to airports are expensive and rare enough. Reduce passenger count much more while making them more expensive, and they are worthless.