Electric VTOL air taxi raises $100m in Series B funding

The only artist's impressions of the secretive vehicle date from 2015 (Credit: Joby Aviation)

According to the California-based company, its four-passenger vehicle will be able to fly at least 150 miles on a charge, be 100 times quieter than conventional aircraft during takeoff and landing, as well as ‘near-silent in flyover’. The air taxi uses a specially designed tilt-rotor system that points them upward to gain height and descend, then adjusts them 90 degrees for low-powered forward flight. Following a visit to the company’s private airfield in Northern California, Bloomberg reported that a prototype of the aircraft was piloted on a 15-minute flight, successfully performing vertical takeoff and landing.

“People waste billions of hours sitting on roads worldwide each year,” said Joby Aviation founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt. “We envision a future where commuting by eVTOL is a safer, faster, and cost-competitive alternative to ground transportation.”