Watch the first video of Joby's air taxi in flight
Joby Aviation has mostly flown under the radar since its founding in 2009. Now it's ready to show us and investors its vision for urban air travel.
- Webby Award Honoree 2023 - Science & Education, Gold Telly 2022 - Science and Technology, Gold Telly 2022 - Science and Technology Series, Gold Telly 2021 - Documentary Series, Silver Telly 2021 - Directing
Joby Aviation's eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing).
"Finally, thank you to all of you in the global community for cheering us on," JoeBen Bevirt says to the camera. Over his right shoulder, what looks like a cross between a helicopter and a small plane ascends from the ground under the power of several spinning rotors.
What's fascinating about the end of one of Joby Aviation's first public videos is that Bevirt, the company's founder doesn't need to raise his voice to compete with the sound of the eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) behind him. This was clearly what the company was hoping to showcase when it released the video last month, the same day it announced it was going public on the New York Stock Exchange. Joby released this video alongside a second video that shows a more straightforward look at the air taxi in-flight. To see more from both, click the video above.
Joby's eVTOL during a recent test flight over Northern California.
"It's got an extremely low noise profile, with less than 65 decibels at 100 meters during takeoff and land, and one that's almost near silent at 500 feet 2000 foot flight," Joby Executive Chairman Paul Sciarra told CNET. Keeping air taxis relatively quiet is going to be key to making them a viable solution for urban transportation. Nobody's going to want helicopter-like noise running through their neighborhood all day and night, no matter how efficient the vehicles are.
Though Joby says it's completed more than one thousand test flights since its founding in 2009, this is the first time the public has seen Joby's air taxi in action. The all-electric vehicle has a top speed of 200 miles per hour and a range of 150 miles. It seats five people, including the pilot, though it can also be controlled remotely from the ground.
Though there's plenty of competition in the field (notably Archer, Lilium and Boeing), Joby has backing from Toyota and recently acquired Uber's air taxi business Uber Elevate.