Joby and Toyota demonstrate eVTOL in Japan

Joby Aviation has demonstrated its eVTOL aircraft in Japan alongside its strategic partner Toyota Motor Corporation. 

The flight was conducted on November 2nd against the backdrop of Mount Fuji, about 60 miles west of Tokyo at Toyota’s Higashi-Fuji Technical Center in Shizuoka. The demonstration is the latest milestone in a now seven-year relationship between the two companies. It is also Joby’s first overseas demonstration flight. 

Last month, Toyota committed a further $500m to the Californian eVTOL developer bringing total investment to $894m. Toyota is also contracted to supply actuation and powertrain components for Joby’s aircraft. 

“Air mobility has the potential to change our ‘sense of distance and time’, and open a future with the new option of air mobility that will further enrich the lives of many people,” said Hiroki Nakajima, member of the board and executive vice president of Toyota. “Toyota is committed to deepening our collaboration with Joby and we will continue to work together to realise our shared dreams.”

Toyota has focused attention on battery powered technology since its founding. About 100 years ago, in 1925, Sakichi Toyoda, founder of Toyota, offered a prize to encourage the development of a storage battery that could provide enough performance “to fly an airplane across the Pacific Ocean”. 

JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby, said: “This is a moment we have been looking forward to for a long time and marks a significant milestone on our journey towards making clean air travel an everyday reality. We share Toyota’s vision for the future of air travel and are honoured to have had the opportunity to present a glimpse of that future through our exhibition flight in Japan.”

Japan’s interest in eVTOL is not limited to Joby, the government and regulator has engaged with a number of other developers including European firms Volocopter and Vertical Aerospace. The 2025 World Expo to be hosted in Osaka is set to demonstrate a number of eVTOL flights with plans currently underway to establish a vertiport at the event. 

Japanese eVTOL developer SkyDrive will also be at the World Expo. It has a manufacturing partnership with Suzuki to help develop its SD-05 eVTOL aircraft and recently secured a further $55m in Series C funding.