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The FAA has successfully completed a critical systems review for Joby Aviation’s eVTOL, bringing the aircraft one step closer to achieving type certification, the California-based company announced today.&nbsp;
According to Joby, the FAA conducted an in-person, multi-day day audit of <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/aircraft-program/joby-evtol">Joby’s eVTOL</a> at the company’s facilities in Marina, California, to complete the second of four systems reviews required for its type certification program.&nbsp;
Joby’s <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2022-03-18/joby-secures-faa-approval-first-systems-and-compliance-review">first systems review</a>&nbsp;concluded at the end of 2021 after the FAA assessed several aspects of the eVTOL aircraft, such as the flight controls, propulsion controls, and battery management. In March, Joby announced that it had submitted to the FAA its first <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2022-03-23/joby-submits-evtol-safety-certification-plan-faa">“area-specific” certification plan</a>, which detailed the materials, seats, and occupant restraints inside the aircraft.&nbsp;
These reviews, along with the area-specific certification plans and means of compliance, “serve to validate the overall architecture of the aircraft and ensure that the company’s development process is on track to satisfy the FAA’s safety objectives associated with complex aircraft systems,” Joby officials said in a statement.&nbsp;
"Progress on certification is a key area of focus for this nascent sector, and we're pleased to mark our continued leadership with the successful completion of our second system review,” said Didier Papadopoulos, Joby’s head of aircraft OEM. “We’re confident that our aircraft design is on track to meet the FAA’s expectations regarding system-level safety, redundancy, and overall aircraft architecture.”
Last month, the FAA provided some insight into how it will certify Joby’s eVTOL aircraft when it <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-brief/2022-11-08/faa-reveals-evtol-airworthiness-criteria-proposed-type-certification-basis">published the airworthiness criteria</a> it is using to evaluate the company’s five-seat eVTOL aircraft, which is intended to carry four passengers plus one pilot on trips of up to 150 miles (240 kilometers) on a single charge. Joby aims to operate this aircraft under both the FAA’s commercial Part 135 rules and private Part 91 rules. The company has said it expects to achieve type certification in late 2024, in time to begin commercial air taxi operations by 2025.&nbsp;

Science & Technology Editor

Hanneke Weitering

Joby's eVTOL Aircraft Completes Critical FAA Systems Review

California-based eVTOL developer Joby Aviation has partnered with New York City’s Aviation High School to help prepare the next generation of aircraft engineers for “the electric age of flight,” the company announced this week.&nbsp;
With Joby and several competing firms planning to operate thousands of eVTOL air taxis before the end of this decade, there will be an increasing need for engineers, maintenance technicians, and other types of aviation professionals. Through this new partnership with Joby, students at&nbsp;Aviation High School will have the chance to get a head start in the burgeoning eVTOL industry.&nbsp;
Founded in 1936 in Long Island City, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens, Aviation High School is a public school certified by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to train aircraft maintenance technicians. More than 2,000 students from across New York City’s five boroughs attend the school.
“With electrification and air taxis set to revolutionize the aviation industry, we are excited to partner with Joby to inspire and train our students to work with these cutting-edge technologies and prepare the talented young men and women of New York City for successful careers in the aviation world of tomorrow,” said Steven Jackson, the principal of Aviation High School.
“Industry partnerships such as the one between Aviation High School and Joby Aviation are key in ensuring our career-pathways programs are exciting, relevant to students’ interests, and valuable in preparing our young people for life after graduation,” said New York City Schools chancellor David Banks.&nbsp;
Joby, which recently <a href="https://www.santacruzsentinel.com/2022/11/15/joby-plans-to-purchase-poly-campus-on-encinal-street/amp/">relocated its headquarters</a> to a new facility in Santa Cruz,&nbsp;says it has recently delivered four virtual-reality simulators to the high school, giving students the opportunity to virtually fly the company’s eVTOL aircraft. A company spokeswoman told&nbsp;FutureFlight&nbsp;that the students will also have opportunities to fly the actual aircraft.
"In addition, what we think is really special about this partnership&nbsp;is the opportunity to work with AVHS faculty on incorporating electric propulsion and other novel technologies into the school’s curriculum so they’ll be among the first maintainers trained up on the electric age of flight," the spokeswoman told FutureFlight.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/aircraft-program/joby-evtol">Joby’s eVTOL</a> is a fully electric, piloted aircraft designed to carry four passengers up to 150 miles (240 kilometers). Joby says it has completed more than 1,000 test flights with its prototypes so far, and it aims to achieve type certification in 2024, with passenger operations starting in late 2024 or 2025.&nbsp;
According to Joby, 100 students at the school have already enrolled in Joby’s online Private Pilot Ground School course, which teaches basic aerodynamics and piloting skills. In January, Joby launched the Joby Aviation Academy, exclusively for its employees and their family members, as a “beta test” for its educational programs. At the time, the company <a href="https://twitter.com/jobyaviation/status/1480594046393409536">tweeted</a> that more than 400 people had signed up for the Private Pilot Ground School course. The course remains exclusively available to Joby employees, their immediate families, and Aviation High School students.&nbsp;

Joby Teams with NYC’s Aviation High School To Train eVTOL Workforce

The U.S.&nbsp;Department of Defense (DoD) is expanding its contract with California-based eVTOL developer Joby, establishing a new partnership between the company and the Marine Corps.&nbsp;
Joby has been under contract with the U.S. Air Force’s Agility Prime program since late 2020, when the company’s unnamed four-seat aircraft prototype became the first eVTOL <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2020-12-14/us-air-force-approves-jobys-evtol-aircraft-military-flights">to receive military airworthiness approval</a>, clearing the way for its use in transporting military personnel and cargo.&nbsp;
Under its new partnership with the Marine Corps, <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/aircraft-program/joby-evtol">Joby</a> will explore non-combat use cases for its eVTOL aircraft, including cargo resupply missions, emergency medical response applications and relocation of personnel. The expansion, which the company announced on August 10, increases the contract’s potential value by more than $45 million, bringing the total value of the contract to $75 million.&nbsp;
“This extension provides valuable support for our ongoing development efforts and allows our partners to see first-hand the potential for this aircraft in their future concept of operations,” said Joby CEO and founder JoeBen Bevirt.
The air force launched the Agility Prime program in April 2020 to accelerate the development of eVTOL technologies through public-private partnerships. Joby is one of 19 eVTOL companies participating in Agility Prime’s so-called “Air Race to Certification.” Other participants include Beta Technologies, <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2020-12-22/us-air-force-backs-elroys-chaparral-freighter-follow-agility-prime-contract">Elroy Air</a>, and Sabrewing Aircraft.
Although Joby did not disclose exactly how much cash it has received from the Agility Prime program so far, the company reported in February 2021 that it had begun <a href="https://www.futureflight.aero/news-article/2021-02-09/joby-aviation-boosted-first-revenues-usaf-agility-prime-role">generating revenue under the contract</a>.&nbsp;
Joby says its work with the DoD will help to bolster its plans to launch its commercial air taxi service by providing the company with early operational experience with government partners and access to testing facilities, and the investment will help to offset research and development costs.&nbsp;
Since it began flight testing its first prototype in 2019, Joby has completed more than 1,000 flight tests. Its production model will be&nbsp;designed to carry four passengers and one pilot across distances of up to 150 miles (240 kilometers), traveling at a maximum speed of 200 mph (320 km/h). The company aims to have its air taxis type certified to enter into commercial service by 2024.

Joby Expands Pentagon eVTOL Partnership to Include U.S. Marine Corps

Toyota Research Institute-Advanced Development, Inc. (TRI-AD) is launching an&nbsp;$800 million growth-stage investment fund called Woven Capital. Its investments will be focused on technology and business models in areas including autonomous mobility, automation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, data and analytics, connectivity, and so-called smart cities.
Beginning in January 2021, the fund will be operated through TRI-AD’s new Woven Capital Holdings subsidiary. It will work in tandem with Toyota AI Ventures' early-stage venture capital fund, which in January 2020 was involved in the Japanese automotive group’s $394 million investment in eVTOL developer Joby Aviation. 
Toyota was the main investor in Joby’s Series C funding round, which raised $590 million for the California-based company. Toyota Motor Corporation president Shigeki Tomoyama joined the Joby board.
According to TRI-AD CEO James Kuffner, the new 10-year fund will seek to make investments to contribute to the group’s existing technology programs, including the Arene open platform for developing programmable vehicles and the Automated Mapping Platform for creating and distributing high-precision maps for automated vehicles.
In a press statement, Kuffner said Woven Capital will make growth-stage investments in companies that are already part of Toyota AI Ventures' early-stage portfolio. This would suggest that the new fund may be used to step up Toyota’s stake in the eVTOL sector.
TRI-AD did not respond to FutureFlight's request for&nbsp;confirmation on whether the Woven Capital Fund will make further direct investments in electric-aircraft programs.
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Managing Editor

Charles Alcock

Toyota Targets New Autonomous Mobility Investments

Constraints on capital and shifting investment priorities could trigger a shakeout in the crowded eVTOL aircraft and urban air mobility sector, according to Kirsten Bartok Touw, founder and managing partner of the AirFinance group. Speaking at an April 29 NBAA-organized webinar on the future of innovation in aviation, she said companies able to attract investment before the Covid-19 emergency are now far better placed to bring their aircraft to market than competitors that still need to find funding.
“If companies have enough cash, they will be full steam ahead, but others will have to step back as they face uncertainty over where they are going, especially those who do not have a diversified cash flow,” Bartok said. “There will now be much more differentiation between winners and losers.”
According to Bartok, the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to accelerate consolidation that will see more than 250 prospective eVTOL programs reduced to just three&nbsp;or four&nbsp;players among the independent startups. She added that a few of the leading aerospace groups will also be&nbsp;active in the fast-emerging sector, although some large companies may now re-evaluate their willingness to put more money into the technology.
“I would bet on companies that already have the cash [to advance their programs] and don’t need any more for at least another 18 months,” she stated. In her view, companies probably need to plan on spending as much as $2 billion to $3&nbsp;billion to get their eVTOL aircraft into production.
AirFinance has been working with several eVTOL companies trying to raise funds and Bartok said that it has generally been harder to get some venture capitalists to consider proposals in recent weeks. “Most venture capitalists are now trying to shore up their portfolios and ensure that they have enough cash to get through the next 24 months,” she explained. “There has been a downturn in many [venture capital] portfolios and now it is harder for them to raise funds from places like endowments and foundations.”
In her view, Airbus is one large group that is likely to remain committed to eVTOL development. This view was supported by comments made earlier on April 29 by group CEO Guillaume Faury, who told analysts that he views investments in the “decarbonization and increased digitization” of aviation as long-term priorities.
However, Bartok believes that financial pressures on rival Boeing in the wake of the grounding of its 737 Max airliner, compounded by the steep downturn in the air transport industry, could cause it to scale back its exposure in the eVTOL sector. Just last year, the U.S. group invested in startup Kitty Hawk to form a joint venture called Wisk to develop the Cora aircraft.
One company that did secure significant investment before Covid-19 wreaked havoc in financial markets was Joby Aviation, which&nbsp;<a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2020-01-15/toyota-invests-big-evtol-developer-joby">in January</a>&nbsp;completed a $590 million Series C funding round led by Japanese automaker Toyota, which invested $394 million. Kate Fraser, the company’s safety lead, told the webinar that Joby is still on track to complete type certification of its four-seat S4 eVTOL by the end of 2023. However, she added the caveat that this date would represent “an introductory launch” for urban air mobility operations, and that it would take several more years to scale up to mass transportation and add features such as the ability to operate in all weather conditions and fly autonomously.
Fraser argued that Covid-19 could tip consumer sentiment more in favor of new transportation options provided by eVTOLs that would allow travelers to bypass more crowded spaces. She also believes that rising environmental concerns will strengthen the case for electrically&nbsp;powered aircraft.
That said, the disruption to working lives evidently has affected companies trying to advance new aircraft designs, and companies have had to make adjustments to their programs. “We’re trying to stay on track [with the S4], but it could slide to the right a bit [in terms of the aircraft’s development timeline,” explained Fraser. “However, our people who have been focusing mainly on hands-on work have now had more time to provide input for the certification effort, and we’ve also been able to focus more on areas such as training and how we can reprioritize to come out of this as the best company we can be with the strongest focus being on safety.”
Both webinar speakers indicated that regulators have demonstrated significant flexibility in response to the latest public health emergency. They expressed hope that this might encourage agencies such as the FAA to be more willing to fast-track regulatory process for the new-generation aircraft. However, according to Bartok, the breakdown of trust resulting from the controversy over the FAA’s handling of the 737 Max certification appears to have undermined the degree of integration and partnership between the U.S. agency and its European counterparts at EASA.
Bartok also pointed to the U.S. Department of Defense’s recent declared interest in supporting eVTOL innovators to ensure its warfighters can benefit from the technology. Just this week at the Agility Prime event, U.S. Air Force leaders appealed to private companies to take advantage of its joint-development opportunities, such as support for flight testing.

Joby Aviation

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Joby's eVTOL Aircraft Completes Critical FAA Systems Review

Joby Teams with NYC’s Aviation High School To Train eVTOL Workforce

Joby Expands Pentagon eVTOL Partnership to Include U.S. Marine Corps

Toyota Targets New Autonomous Mobility Investments

eVTOL Aircraft Programs Could Face Investment Squeeze

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