Considering a new company car, well its time to rethink. Toyota will soon offering an alternative that will take your breath away as the are working with Joby Aviation to produce an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) yes you heard right.
Joby founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt and Akio Toyoda, Chairman of the Toyota Group
Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and Joby Aviation (Joby) came together last week (2 November) at Toyota's Higashi-Fuji Technical Center (Shizuoka, Japan) to assert their ambition for air mobility.
Joby's air taxi, an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) was displayed at the event, having made an exhibition flight in Japan earlier in the week - the first time it has been flown outside the United States.
As Toyota transitions to become a mobility company, it has worked with companies such as Joby to find new and exciting opportunities. Joby founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt, says he "looks forward to a world where our environmental footprint is smaller, a world where we're able to spend more time with the people and places that matter most to us, without having to worry about traffic jams." Akio Toyoda, Chairman of the Toyota Group, has ambitions to bring the freedom of mobility to all people.
Bevirt commented: "This is a moment we have been looking forward to for a long time and marks a significant milestone on our journey towards making clean air travel an everyday reality. We share Toyota's vision for the future of air travel and are honoured to have had the opportunity to present a glimpse of that future through our exhibition flight in Japan."
Hiroki Nakajima, Member of the Board and Executive Vice President of Toyota Motor Corporation said: "Air mobility has the potential to change our sense of distance and time and open a future with the new option of air mobility that will further enrich the lives of many people. Toyota is committed to deepening its collaboration with Joby and we will continue to work together to realise our shared dreams."
The alternative taxi ride
Since its founding, Toyota has been working to realise a society in which everyone can move freely. About 100 years ago, in 1925, Sakichi Toyoda, founder of the Toyota Group, offered a prize to encourage the development of a storage battery that could provide enough performance ‘to fly an airplane across the Pacific Ocean’. Since then, Toyota has continued to focus on the challenge of air mobility through the generations. Toyota Motor Corporation founder Kiichiro Toyoda also expressed a strong interest in the aircraft business, making prototypes of helicopters and aircraft components. After World War II, among other developments, Dr. Shoichiro Toyoda was involved in the joint development of the world's first electronically controlled aero piston engine with an American company at Toyota's Higashi Fuji Technical Center. Today, Sakichi's dream carries on, with batteries seen as a viable source of power for eVTOL.
About electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL)
An eVTOL is a type of aircraft designed for short-range, high-frequency operations suitable for the on-demand air taxi market, which is expected to be used by commuters, business travellers, and tourists in urban areas. Combining elements from helicopters, drones, and small aircraft, eVTOLs aim to excel in reliability, environmental performance (zero operating emissions), quiet operation, operational and maintenance costs, enhanced safety features, and more.
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