Joby-Toyota air taxi flies (alone) in front of Mount Fuji

In the demonstration video you can see how it went. The next step is the sale from 2025

L'aerotaxi di Joby Aviation

Photo by: Joby Aviation

By: Eleonora Lilli

Published by: Brian Potter

Nov 12, 2024 at 5:03am ET

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Mount Fuji without snow provided the backdrop for the first flight in Japan of the vertical take-off air taxi of Joby Aviation, the US airline also backed by Toyota Motor Corporation, which joined the eVTOL group in 2019 and over time has raised its funding (last month it provided USD 500 million).

After seven years of collaboration between Toyota and US engineers from Joby Aviation, the taxi lifted off from the Toyota Technical Centre in Higashi-Fuji without anyone on board, but remotely controlled, in front of Akio Toyoda, President of Toyota Motor Corporation, Ted Ogawa, CEO of Toyota North America, and Hiroki Nakajima, CTO.

Joby completed its first flight with a pilot on board in October 2023, in New York, and aims to sell its air taxis from 2025.

A close partnership

After a $500 million investment by Toyota, Joby Aviation has made great strides. Company founder JoeBen Bevirt said: 'Our first overseas flight marks a significant milestone in our journey to make clean air travel an everyday reality. We share Toyota's vision for the future of mobility, and we are honoured to have had the opportunity to present a glimpse of that future through our flight in Japan".

In addition to Toyota's top management, other key stakeholders and representatives of the Civil Aviation Bureau of Japan were also present at the air taxi flight demonstration, which can be seen in the video below.

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Now the next step will be to start selling the air taxis from 2025. Tetsuo Ogawa, who signed the agreement on behalf of Toyota, commented: 'We are pleased that this additional investment will enable Joby to certify and transition its aircraft into commercial production. We share Joby's vision that sustainable flight will play a central role in addressing the ongoing mobility challenges of our time'.

The Joby Aviation air taxi

Photos by: Joby Aviation

The video in Japan

"We are incredibly grateful to be working side-by-side with the world's largest automaker to realise our shared vision of the future of mobility, and we look forward to taking the next step in our journey together," is Joby Aviation's statement accompanying the video of the flight to Japan.