Category Filtering: 'joby'
This year, the US Air Force’s Agility Prime initiative will help finance the flight test and certification efforts of about 20 different eVTOL aircraft participating in its “Air Race to Certification” program.
A year after the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft industry saw its first start-up valued at more than $1B (see “The First Electric VTOL Unicorn: Joby Aviation,” Vertiflite, March/April 2020), a growing number of companies across the advanced air mobility (AAM) industry are looking to merge with a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) that is already publicly traded to raise the funds necessary to bankroll future growth.
Joby Aviation, a transportation company developing an all-electric, vertical take-off and landing (‘eVTOL’) aircraft, which it intends to operate as a commercial passenger aircraft from 2024, today announced that it has begun generating revenue as part of achieving another major milestone in the Agility Prime program.
By Kenneth I. Swartz
Vertiflite, Jan/Feb 2021
Founded in 2009, Joby has long been recognized by experts as the leading pioneer in the developme
In the year since Joby Aviation saw its valuation pass the $1B mark — known as a unicorn — the company has become more public in its quest to become first to market in the electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi market. The recent release of photos and video showing the Joby Generation 2.0 aircraft hovering and in wingborne flight highlights the continuing advances in the aircraft’s flight test program.
Until recently, Uber was often one of those companies that people seem to love to hate. Stemming from the well-publicized antics of its founding CEO Travis Kalanick, workplace scandals and the no-holds-barred expansion strategy of its startup years, most people were skeptical and suspicious of Uber’s intentions and motivations when it announced its interest in electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.
In October, Joby ... filed six patent applications to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), part of a total of 14 patents filed in 2020.
The US Air Force got an unexpected payoff in April from, of all things, the novel coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 led the service to officially launch Agility Prime — its initiative to boost electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and related technologies — online instead of live. Broad participation by senior military officers and government officials in the quickly organized “virtual conference” showed significant support for Agility Prime within federal ranks.
In the seven years since 100 invited visionaries gathered in Arlington, Virginia, for the first annual VFS Transformative Vertical Flight (TVF) Workshop, the dream of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft has progressed from something perceived as a wild-eyed fantasy promoted by secretive companies to a diverse and full-fledged industry.
For the past 11 years, Joby Aviation has been on a quest to develop the ultimate electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, but few details of the company’s aircraft and progress have been shared with the public.
That changed in January when Joby stepped out of the shadows and released images of the production version of its all-electric, five-seat tiltrotor in conjunction with the announcement of a $590M Series C financing that brought the company’s total funding, including previous rounds, to $720M.
