Toyota Invests Big In eVTOL Developer Joby

Billing itself as a “global mobility company,” Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp. last month announced a partnership with and a $394 million investment in eVTOL developer Joby Aviation. The investment makes Toyota the lead investor in Joby’s $590 million Series C financing.

“Air transportation has been a long-term goal for Toyota, and while we continue our work in the automobile business, this agreement sets our sights to the sky,” Toyota president and CEO Akio Toyoda said. “As we take up the challenge of air transportation together with Joby, an innovator in the emerging eVTOL space, we tap the potential to revolutionize future transportation and life. Through this new and exciting endeavor, we hope to deliver freedom of movement and enjoyment to customers everywhere, on land, and now, in the sky.”

Under the partnership, Toyota executive vice president Shigeki Tomoyama will join Joby’s board of directors while the carmaker will leverage its expertise in manufacturing, quality, and cost controls for the development and production of Joby’s aircraft, a piloted, four-passenger eVTOL. 

Toyota’s investment and expertise are expected to accelerate the development and certification of Joby’s eVTOL. “This collaboration with Toyota represents an unprecedented commitment of money and resources for us and this new industry from one of the world’s leading automakers,” Joby founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt said. “Toyota is known globally for the quality and reliability of their products driven by meticulous attention to detail and manufacturing processes.”

It's not the first time Toyota has been involved in aircraft manufacturing. Between 1943 and 1945 and under contract from the Japanese army, Toyota produced 151 units of the Ha-13A-2 radial aircraft engine. In 1996, the FAA certified the FV2400-2TC twin-turbocharged V-8 piston aircraft engine that was jointly developed by Toyota and Hamilton Standard as a competing engine to Teledyne Continental and Textron Lycoming. But the engine was never brought to market. And Scaled Composites and Toyota jointly built the TAA-1 all-composite single-engine piston airplane, which was later shelved after first flight of the prototype in 2002. 

Previous investors that participated in Joby's Series C fundraising include SPARX Group, Intel Capital, Capricorn Investment Group, JetBlue Technology Ventures, Toyota AI Ventures, and AME Cloud Ventures. They were joined by two new investors: Baillie Gifford and Global Oryx. Joby’s investment funding, including previous rounds, now totals $720 million.

Its all-electric-powered aircraft features six sets of propellers—four mounted on the wings and two aft—with a cabin optimized for ride-sharing operations and easy passenger ingress and egress. Capable of reaching a speed of 200 mph, it is planned to have a range of 150 miles on a single charge. It also will be 100 times quieter than conventional aircraft during takeoff and landing, and nearly silent in forward flight, Joby claims.

Joby is targeting a 2023 deployment of its aircraft. Last spring, the company hired Gregory Bowles as its head of government affairs. Bowles brought to the job a strong background in aircraft certification, having served as co-chairman of the FAA Part 23 Reorganization Aviation Rulemaking Committee as well as chairman of ASTM International's F44 committee for Part 23 aircraft.