Joby Aviation
Joby Aviation is an American venture-backed aerospace company and developer of VTOL personal air vehicles designed for air taxi services. The company provides airframe design, fabrication, aerodynamic analysis and electric motor design.
The startup was founded in 2009 and holds offices in Santa Cruz, CA and San Carlos, CA.History
Joby worked on the NASA LEAPTech and X-57 Maxwell projects. It switched from its S2 two-seat tilt-prop concept, to the four-seat S4 with four props on the wing and two tilting props on the tail.
On February 1, 2018, Joby Aviation announced it has raised its capital by $100 million in venture funding to $130 million, including from Intel Capital, Toyota AI Ventures, JetBlue Technology Ventures, and Tesla/SpaceX backer Capricorn Investment Group.
Joby intends to build a four passenger aircraft with a pilot, travelling on a single charge near-silently at a few thousand feet altitude, and 100 times quieter during takeoff and landing than a helicopter.
It plans to mass-produce them to eventually operate a ride hailing service and be fully autonomous.
On January 15, 2020, Joby Aviation announced additional venture funding of $590 million and a partnership with Toyota. It plans to use the money to develop a large flying-car factory in Marina, California.
