Joby Aviation, a publicly-traded electric air vehicle company with a current market cap of $3.1 billion, said on Thursday that it has received the necessary certification from the Federal Aviation Administration to begin on-demand commercial air taxi operations.
Joby is closer to its stated goal of launching its electric aerial service commercially in 2024, but it still has a ways to go until it can ferry passengers in its electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles.
Joby built two prototype vehicles and wouldn't say how many will be built and deployed for its initial launch. The Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate received this week is only one of three FAA certifications the company will need to actually operate its e VTOLs as air taxis across the United States.
Joby has a long history of helping aviation companies secure FAA certifications. Joby said in March that it would work with CAE to develop and qualify flight simulation training devices so that commercially rated pilots can train to fly e VTOLs.
The procedures we have prepared lay a foundation for our future e VTOL operations, according to Bonny Simi, head of air operations and people at Joby and one of the company's FAA-approved pilots.
Joby Aviation has a prototype aircraft.
Joby will begin testing out the back end technology needed to operate a ride-hail service in the sky, a company spokesman told TechCrunch. Joby has been building tech that shows pilots where their next ride will come from, similar to how drivers can see who they will pick up next. Joby will likely run a customer pilot after it develops the consumer app, as the company will start testing it out with employees, according to a spokesman.
Joby is currently flying an employee shuttle between San Jose and Marina, California, but it is not known what test routes it intends to fly on.
Joby has partnerships with two companies in South Korea and Japan to launch a commercial air taxi service in those countries, but it will not be in the U.S.
Joby Aviation eyes Asia and Europe as early markets alongside North America
Joby will rely on existing infrastructure and underutilized assets like parking garages and helipads for docking air taxis while it works to build out a network of vertiports alongside partners.
In June of last year, the startup announced a partnership with Reef, one of the country's largest parking garage operators, and Neighborhood Property Group, a real estate acquisition company, to build a network of vertiports in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and New York.
Joby is working with a number of companies to develop vertiports in New York City.
Joby wants to run its own app to give riders access to its air taxi service, but the plan is for it also to be integrated into Uber's app. The two companies came to an agreement in 2020 when Joby bought the ride-sharing company, and then invested $75 million into the startup.
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