Toyota Motor Corporation is to invest an additional $500 million to support the certification and commercial production of Joby's electric air taxi, bringing its total investment in the electric air taxi developer to $894 million.

“This investment builds on nearly seven years of collaboration between our companies,” says JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO, Joby Aviation. “The knowledge and support shared by Toyota has been instrumental in Joby's success, and we look forward to deepening our relationship as we deliver on our shared vision for the future of air travel.”

Joby continues to make important progress towards commercialisation, recently rolling its third aircraft off its pilot production line in Marina, California and breaking ground on an expanded facility in California that will more than double the company's manufacturing footprint. In August 2024, it confirmed that the fourth of five stages of the type certification process is now more than one-third complete on the Joby side.

“With this additional investment, we are excited to see Joby certify its aircraft and shift to commercial production,” says Tetsuo ‘Ted’ Ogawa, who signed the agreement as the operating officer on behalf of Toyota. “We share Joby's view that sustainable flight will be central to alleviating today's persistent mobility challenges.”

Toyota's additional investment reflects the continued aim of the founding family, starting with Kiichiro Toyoda down to present-day chairman Akio Toyoda, to realise the dream of air mobility for personal or daily travel as part of its transformation into a mobility company.

Since 2019, in addition to monetary investments, Toyota has been investing time and human resources to share its knowledge of the Toyota production system via process planning, manufacturing method development and tooling design. Toyota engineers now work side-by-side with the Joby team in California and, in 2023, the two companies signed a long-term agreement for Toyota to supply key powertrain and actuation components for the production of Joby's aircraft.

Toyota's relationship with Joby began through an initial investment made by Toyota Ventures, the early-stage venture capital arm of Toyota that explores and identifies disruptive technologies and companies for investment opportunities and provides support for portfolio companies. Toyota Motor Corporation subsequently completed investments totalling $394 million.

This latest investment, which will be made in two equal tranches, is subject to standard regulatory approvals and certain other conditions, finalisation of collaborative and commercial agreements and, with respect to the second tranche, the finalisation of terms related to a strategic alliance focused on commercial manufacturing and certain other conditions. The investment, will be made in the form of cash for common stock, with the first tranche targeted to close later this year and the second in 2025.