The archive · Space, Robots, Defence · Strategic decision · 2009–2026
Joby bets FAA powered-lift rules open air taxis; Toyota invests $894M; Dubai in 2026
Joby bet a new FAA 'powered-lift' category would make electric air taxis real; Toyota put in $894M, first passengers due in Dubai in 2026.
Joby Aviation
What the business is
An all-electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) air taxi — a pilot plus four passengers, up to 150 miles at 200 mph — which Joby intends to operate itself and sell to other operators.
Starting capital：Toyota has invested $894M in total, including $500M committed in October 2024; Joby held $1.4B in cash and short-term investments at end-2025 plus a net $1.2B raised in February 2026.
How it started
JoeBen Bevirt founded Joby in Santa Cruz, California in 2009 to build an all-electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft for urban air taxi service. Toyota Ventures invested early and Toyota Motor Corporation put in $394M, then began sharing manufacturing know-how. In May 2022 Joby received its Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate from the FAA — the first eVTOL company to hold one — after submitting more than 850 pages of manuals, letting it begin on-demand commercial operations with conventional aircraft while the eVTOL type certificate was still years away.
What happened
The regulatory bet came due in October 2024, when the FAA finalized the 'Integration of Powered-Lift: Pilot Certification and Operations' rule, creating the pilot-license and operating framework for a brand-new powered-lift aircraft category. Days earlier Toyota committed another $500M in two tranches through 2025, bringing its total to $894M. In November 2025 Joby began power-on testing of its first FAA-conforming aircraft built for Type Inspection Authorization — the final stage of type certification — and in February 2026 it reported a record 18-point jump in FAA progress on stage four of the certification process.
How it ended up
Still pre-commercial as of September 2026: the type certificate is in its final testing stage, Joby expects to carry its first paying passengers in Dubai during 2026 and to start early US operations under the eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, and it is acquiring a 700,000-square-foot Dayton, Ohio plant to double production toward four aircraft a month in 2027.
Background
Joby's bet was that urban air taxi service could not exist until the FAA created a legal category for it. Founded in 2009 by JoeBen Bevirt in Santa Cruz, California, the company built an all-electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (a pilot plus four passengers, up to 150 miles at 200 mph) and gambled that regulators would eventually write pilot-licensing and operating rules for a brand-new 'powered-lift' class of aircraft.
Joby moved early on the regulatory side: in May 2022 it became the first eVTOL company to receive an FAA Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate — the approval to operate commercial on-demand air taxi service — after submitting more than 850 pages of manuals. It used that certificate to rehearse operations with conventional aircraft while waiting for the far harder approval, the type certificate for the eVTOL itself.
The opening arrived in October 2024, when the FAA published its final rule integrating powered-lift aircraft into the National Airspace System, establishing how pilots and operators of this new category would be certified. Days earlier Toyota committed another $500 million to Joby, bringing its total investment to $894 million, with Toyota engineers already embedded in Joby's pilot production line. By November 2025 Joby had begun power-on testing of its first FAA-conforming aircraft built for Type Inspection Authorization, the final stage of type certification.
As of September 2026 the type certificate is still pending, but Joby is scaling ahead of it: a record 18-point jump in FAA progress on stage four, $1.4B in cash at end-2025 plus $1.2B raised in February 2026, a 700,000-square-foot plant in Dayton, Ohio, and first paying passengers expected in Dubai during 2026.
What has to be true
- Urban air taxis needed an aircraft category that did not legally exist; the FAA's October 2024 powered-lift rule finally supplied pilot certification and operating rules for it.
- Toyota's $894M and production-system know-how gave Joby the capital and manufacturing discipline to outlast a decade of certification work.
- Winning the first eVTOL Part 135 air-carrier certificate in 2022 let Joby rehearse commercial operations on conventional aircraft while waiting for the type certificate.
- Raising $1.4B in cash plus $1.2B more in early 2026 let Joby keep expanding production capacity before a single passenger flight.
What can be applied
When a startup's market depends on a new regulatory category, the regulator's timeline sets your launch date — so line up industrial partners and capital to outlast the certification wait.
Aftermath
As of September 2026, Joby is in the final stage of FAA type certification with first paying passengers expected in Dubai during 2026 and early US operations planned under the eVTOL Integration Pilot Program. It ended 2025 with $1.4B in cash and short-term investments, added a net $1.2B in February 2026, and is acquiring a 700,000-square-foot Dayton, Ohio facility to double production to four aircraft a month in 2027, while partnering with Uber so riders can book air taxi trips in the Uber app.
Sources
- Integration of Powered-Lift: Pilot Certification and Operations – Final Rule
- Toyota To Invest $500 Million in Joby Aviation
- Joby Receives Part 135 Certification from the FAA
- Joby Reports Fourth Quarter 2025 Financial Results
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