Toyota and Joby Form Joint Venture to Manufacture Joby’s S4 Electric Air Taxis

Joby Aviation and Toyota Motor Corporation announced today that they will create a joint venture to prepare for larger-scale production of electric air taxis. The move formalizes and expands a relationship that has existed quietly for nearly a decade.

Toyota has already invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Joby since 2020, and has constantly provided guidance and advice on establishing a manufacturing setup from the start. They are now taking a new step. The relationship is transitioning from advice and handouts to a fully integrated shared operating framework. The duo are forming the Joby Toyota Aero Manufacturing Preparation Company, a California-based joint venture. Toyota will benefit from 51 percent ownership and the ability to choose three board members. Joby, on the other hand, will retain 49 percent and have the authority to appoint two directors. It’s relatively evenly split.

In this deal, Joby grants the new business exclusive rights to build their S4 series aircraft. Plus, they are granting the company royalty-free access to all designs and intellectual property. The S4 is a cool six-rotor electric aircraft that can take off and land vertically before transitioning to forward flight. It has a pilot but can also accommodate up to four extra people and travel at speeds of around 200 mph. Inside this new company, much of the work will be concentrated on getting ready for commercial manufacturing. That includes increasing output rate, preserving quality, and lowering aircraft prices, all of which will help Joby’s ongoing attempts to obtain regulatory certification and meet demand once operational.

During a week of demo flights in New York City, Joby flew several passengers on point-to-point test flights. However, in order to turn those results into a regular service, they must be able to produce the planes in considerably larger number and consistency than most other early-stage aviation ventures. This is where Toyota comes in. The company has spent a lifetime perfecting its car factories, focusing on smooth workflow, waste reduction, and repeatable quality, and applying those same disciplines to building planes will finally get Joby to the scale required to make air travel a regular feature rather than something that occurs only occasionally.

Toyota just sees this deal as making sense in the long run for mobility. Chairman Akio Toyoda has long stated that air travel is simply a natural extension of the company’s core business of moving people. As a result of this collaboration, they will be able to apply their core competencies to a completely new field while remaining focused on the overall aim. Joby, of course, receives more than just additional resources. They also get to claim that a major worldwide manufacturer with this degree of ownership is genuinely supporting them. Regulators, prospective operators, and investors are all looking for indicators that a plane program is on stable ground, and this collaboration gives a very clear message about how strong those foundations are.