eVTOLs (Electrical Vertical Take off and Landing) are yet to start their commercial flying and most of the eVTOL air taxi startups are very much in the phase of testing and certification , but guess what ! , the domain has already registered it's first Billionaire as JoeBen Bevirt , the Founder and CEO of Joby Aviation.
Joby Aviation is on the task from 2009 to develop an air taxi for the Urban Air Mobility (UAM), that is going to be future of all mega cities. Companies like Toyota and Uber elevate saw the potential of this Company at an early stage, and became a part of the venture gradually.
Facts about Joby :
► First company to agree certification basis for an eVTOL aircraft with FAA.
► First company to be granted airworthiness approval for an eVTOL aircraft by U.S. Air Force.
► Company has strategic partnership with Toyota for production and has already acquired Uber Elevate.
A Forbes report says, Shares in the Santa Cruz, Calif.-based company, which commenced trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Aug. 11 following a reverse merger, closed 5.8% higher Tuesday at $10.90, giving the company a market capitalization of $6.8 billion, and Bevirt, 47, a fortune worth $1.08 billion given SEC filings that list him as controlling 98.7 million shares.
Joby's Journey started with a small team of seven engineers worked out of “The Barn,” an workshop in the mountains above Santa Cruz. where they played with the technologies like electric motors, flight software, and lithium-ion batteries , engineering almost every component from the ground up.
In the year 2012, Joby was selected to collaborate with NASA on several groundbreaking electric flight projects, including the X-57 and LEAPTech.
While, Joby's Full-Scale Prototype took to the skies in 2017, rigorous flight testing program began in the year 2019 follwed by Toyota association.
In December 2020, Joby became the first eVTOL company to receive airworthiness approval from the U.S Air Force, that allowed access to government testing facilities and a basis to develop their operational capabilities prior to the commercial launch.
In the same year -2020 , Uber increased their investment in Joby and the company acquired the Elevate division, bringing their software tools and commercial launch expertise alongwith integration of aerial ridesharing service into the Uber app.
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In 2020, Joby agreed to a "G-1" certification basis for the eVTOL with the FAA, laying a clear path to certifying the aircraft for commercial flights. The U.S. Air Force also granted its first ever eVTOL airworthiness approval to Joby as part of its Agility Prime program.
In the month of August 2021, along with Partner, Reinvent Technology Partners (RTP) , Joby started trading in NYSE in the name of "Joby" .
About the new billionaire, JoeBen Bevirt ,who did his engineering at the University of California at Davis and Stanford University, was brought up in a remote area called Last Chance in an off-the-grid community in which members grew their own food.
Last year , in an interview , he told Forbes that he first thought about building a flying machine in the second grade while trudging up the steep 4.5-mile road home after school from where the bus dropped him off along the Pacific Coast Highway.
“It was a lonnnnng hill,” laughed Bevirt, “It made me dream about a better way.”
Joby, that has conducted more than 1000 remotely piloted test flights, also with the milestone of 150 miles on a single charge, now faces the tough task of proving the aircraft’s safety to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Progress Toward Certification
- First and only eVTOL company to have agreed to a “G-1” certification basis with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
- First eVTOL to be awarded an airworthiness status by the U.S. Air Force
- First steps taken toward becoming the first eVTOL airline with application for Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate issued by the FAA
While, Toyota motor is providing the necessary help on manufacturing and investment of around $400 million , Pinterest's Paul Sciarra, and billionaire Jeff Skoll’s Capricorn Investment Group have also invested in Joby.
Joby's Key Strategic Partnerships
-Partnership with Uber recently extended, following 2020 acquisition of Elevate
-Strategic partnership with Toyota provides production expertise
-Range of infrastructure partnerships signed in 2021, including Reef Technology
-US Air Force “Agility Prime” Program offers important revenue and testing opportunities
-eCredits partnership with JetBlue Airways and Signature Flight Support paves way towards incentive scheme for rapid decarbonisation of air travel.
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