Uber has confirmed that former Uber Elevate manufacturing partners could potentially offer flights in their eVTOL aircraft via its ride-hailing ground transportation app following its sale of the urban air mobility platform to Joby Aviation. Joby intends to offer its own flight-booking app for trips in its own eVTOL aircraft and customers will be able to connect with car rides booked through Uber. It will not use the Elevate name for services, which are expected to begin in 2023.
In a statement, Uber confirmed that its new commercial agreement with Joby is non-exclusive. Its spokeswoman explained that any of the seven other eVTOL aircraft developers formerly partnered with Uber Elevate will still be free to offer their vehicles to book flights booking through the Uber app.
Uber Elevate consisted of eight named manufacturing partners, plus reportedly two other undisclosed companies. Several of these companies have told FutureFlight that they expect the partnership agreements they signed with Uber to be terminated shortly. A spokeswoman for Uber confirmed the company has notified the other Uber Elevate partners that it will discontinue the partnerships as part of the deal.
However, while not directly addressing the question of the partnership agreements, Joby said that the other partners can still potentially participate in the planned urban air mobility service. “Joby’s app-sharing agreement with Uber is not exclusive in either direction,” the California-based company told FutureFlight in a written statement. “Uber remains an open marketplace and there’s nothing to prevent other aircraft manufacturers from operating their own services on the Uber platform. Ultimately, we believe this deal will better serve consumers by speeding up the path to market for these new technologies.”
Joby added that under the terms of the transaction with Uber, which is expected to complete regulatory approval in the first quarter of 2021, it remains free “to partner with other demand-generation partners in both the U.S. and overseas markets.”
Some Uber Elevate partners have also complained that they were not aware that Uber made a $50 million investment in Joby back in January, adding that they had been assured Uber would not invest directly in any of the individual partners in order to remain agnostic over which vehicles to use in the planned urban air mobility program. Uber confirmed that it had not disclosed the January investment because it did not consider it to be "material." As part of the deal announced this week, Uber is investing a further $75 million in Joby.
In its written response to questions from FutureFlight, Joby said that the two companies have not yet resolved exactly how they will integrate their respective apps and software. Joby did confirm that Uber’s recently announced new technology development center in Paris is not included in the acquisition. It also stated that no “competitively sensitive information” regarding other partners will be shared with Joby as a result of the transaction.
Joby also confirmed that Dr. Eric Allison, who is currently the head of Uber Elevate, will be joining Joby in a yet-to-be-confirmed capacity. It said it expects “some of the Uber Elevate team members” to join Joby.
However, a source at one of the other Uber Elevate partners, speaking with FutureFlight on the condition of anonymity, said that some existing staff are staying with the Uber group, while others are reportedly leaving to join rival eVTOL developer Hyundai. The same source said that Uber had also offered to sell Elevate to Hyundai, but that the Korean automotive group had declined the offer. Hyundai did not respond to a request for comment on the situation.
Joby has not explicitly confirmed yet whether it will press ahead with plans to launch air taxi services in the prospective early-adopter cities identified by Uber, which include Los Angeles; Dallas; and Melbourne, Australia. “We’re excited to maintain the dialogue that was established under the Uber Elevate platform as we integrate that team’s perspectives into our own go-to-market strategy,” said the company.
[This article was updated on December 14 to clarify the future relationship between Uber and former Uber Elevate partners].
