Joby Advances eVTOL Production While FAA Certification Testing Continues
The immediate significance of Joby Aviation does not lie in the air-taxi marketing hype. Instead, it is related to the well-known aerospace issue transformation of aircraft concept into certifiable and production-capable program. The company develops electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft aimed to serve in a special niche between regular aircraft and helicopters. Specifically, the main benefit of the aircraft will be silent urban transportation of a small number of passengers between the vertiports.
From the viewpoint of US aerospace audience, the key story is about the certification process and production readiness. Testing started in 2018 at Joby and the company finds itself now in FAA testing process to obtain complete regulatory approval. As per the company, it expects complete certification in the next 12 months in the United States and Dubai. However, it is not the completed task but just the expectation at the moment. That is to say, the most important thing here is the approval rather than mere production ambitions.
It is very important because eVTOL programs cannot scale in the same way as consumer technology products. In the context of aviation industry, production becomes relevant only when the aircraft configuration, quality assurance system and testing results meet regulator’s requirements. It is reflected in the advanced air mobility framework proposed by FAA. In accordance with the regulator, powered-lift aircraft must be certified and safely integrated into the National Airspace System, there are the rules concerning certification, operations and pilot qualification for this class of aircraft.
Such an approach is also evident from the recent milestones of Joby. The company in 2024 reported completing the third stage of the five-stage FAA type certification process. Certification plans concerning the structure, mechanics, electrical system as well as cybersecurity, human factors and noise were reviewed and accepted by the regulator. It is not the final approval yet but it is still a significant step in the process of systems engineering because it shows the way how the compliance will be proven in case of this particular aircraft configuration.
As for the production side, it becomes clear as well. The approach of the company may be defined as vertically integrated one and it means that much of the aircraft and service stack is developed in-house. It can give benefits to certification-oriented manufacturing teams as the tighter configuration management and shorter feedback loop between design, testing and production phases. However, the key issue here is whether the conforming aircraft and conforming parts can be manufactured reliably enough to support the certification process.
In this respect, the recent testing activities become important as well. The company announced power-on testing of the first FAA-conforming aircraft that will be used in Type Inspection Authorization. It is the final stage of the FAA type certification process. In the framework of this stage, it is planned to conduct thousands of hardware and software integration tests before for-credit flight testing, including FAA test pilots. The company stated that the process will include performance validation, control and handling as well as maintenance and operations. For the eVTOL, it is not just an additional matter but the key one because it will prove that the aircraft is able to be operated and maintained on an airline level and not just on the prototype one.
Manufacturing is developing at the same time. The company has increased production capacity in California and started propeller blade production in Ohio, with the Ohio facility considered as the part of long-term scaling plan. Not taking into account the most optimistic output targets, the trend is clear the company is trying to show that certification process does not happen independently from industrialization. In aerospace terms, it means not just building a flyable aircraft but the production system, capable to manufacture repeatedly airworthy units.
The company business model is important as well. Currently, Joby Aviation earns a small share of revenues via Blade business, described by the company as helicopter and private flight rideshare platform in New York City. In the long term, the company plans to develop its own eVTOL ride-sharing network and sell the tickets to customers rather than producing the aircraft for traditional operators. The business model implies the transition of the company from airframe development to the operator-level activities, where maintenance, dispatch reliability, pilot training and airspace integration become as important as the vehicle performance.
Such a business ambition explains the importance of FAA progress for the company. The agency has already stated that the initial advanced air mobility operations will use existing infrastructure such as helipads, routes and air traffic control services whenever possible, while vertiport standards and urban operations concepts are maturing further. So, the first phase of operations, if it is approved, will look like a carefully managed expansion of the existing commercial rotorcraft operations, not radical reconsideration of the transportation system.
The program of Joby Aviation may be interpreted, thus, as the certification-and-production story. Quiet electric propulsion, urban congestion relief and direct consumer services may explain the concept. However, the key aerospace challenge here is whether the company succeeds in transitioning from years of development flights to FAA-acceptable, production-supported and commercially sustainable operations. This is the point where eVTOL turns from the attractive concept into aviation product.
By Stephen Wallace — Editor for AMI’s aerospace integration and unmanned mobility coverage, focused on drone manufacturing, VTOL systems, autonomous networks and air-ground mobility links.
