Flying taxis are ready for take-off
Tycoon wants to cut journey times for millions
THEY could shorten a four-anda-half hour car journey to just 30 minutes or slash lengthy trips into London from cities like Cambridge, it is claimed.
California-based Joby Aviation, which makes flying taxis that seat one pilot and four riders, wants to offer journeys in the UK shortly after the company receives certification in the US.
Its founder and chief executive Joe-Ben Bevirt reckons it is the start of a new transport era ‘similar to the transition from horses to automobiles’ or ‘canals to rail lines’.
He said it would take time to build up manufacturing capacity but added: ‘The industry will be moving millions of people by the end of the decade.’ The US company has applied for its aircraft design to be certified for use in Britain.
At the Farnborough International Airshow in Hampshire, Bevirt said: ‘We’re so excited about the UK as a market. It’s just fantastic to be able to provide the mobility that this new class of aircraft brings to people.’
He said a recent trip from an event in Cambridge to a dinner in London took two-and-a-half hours when it could have been over in 15 minutes.
He added: ‘I was in the Scottish highlands recently – a four-and-a-half hour car trip that could have been done in 45 minutes, maybe even 30. Every trip that I take, I am reminded of what a profound impact this is going to have on so many people’s lives.’
Joby is aiming to have its US authorisation by the Federal Aviation Administration validated concurrently by the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority.
That follows an agreement between the regulators this year to use an existing bilateral safety deal, which already applies to planes, for flying taxis, known as ‘electric vertical take- off and landing aircraft’ (eVTOLs).
Joby, whose investors include Uber, is targeting 2024 as the US start date, so the taxis could be in British skies soon after.
Initially the focus would probably be on routes between central London and the city’s airports and, potentially, pairings such as Manchester-Birmingham and Oxford-Cambridge.
Japan and South Korea are other markets where it will look to launch.
It is one of a number of companies jostling to be at the front of the rank when the technology finally takes off, including Vertical, which is led by Ovo Energy founder Stephen Fitzpatrick.
Joby is a ‘vertically-integrated’ company, meaning it designs and manufactures most of the components on the aircraft, and plans to operate them.
It says it has flown the longest, the highest and the fastest flights of any eVTOLs.
Bevirt said, when asked to compare his 13-year- old company with rivals, that it had ‘been in this a long time’, flying full-scale aircraft since 2017 with a range of more than 150 miles and reaching speeds of more than 200mph.
He said the noise level was ‘unprecedented’ – 65 decibels at a 100-metre distance during the loudest portion of flight – similar to a conversation.
It also tries to blend in with background noise, making a sound more like a fan than the ‘ wop- wop’ of a helicopter, he added.
Bevirt’s firm listed in New York last year but shares are down 29pc in the year to date amid a broader downturn in stocks that are a bet on future growth.
It is not yet making money from sales and for the first quarter reported a loss of $62.3m (£51.9m), though it had $1.2bn (£1bn) in cash to support investment and operations, including certifying and manufacturing. It lost $114m (£95m) for 2021.
Joby was among those making their pitches at the airshow this week as the aviation industry looks to a net zero future.
Bevirt said he was inspired as a boy living in the countryside by his ‘very long trip home from school every day’, who was motivated ‘to dream of a better way to get from a school that I loved to a home that I loved’.