Why Toyota is betting on Joby's electric air taxis

Joby Aviation (JOBY) has received $500 million in additional funding from Toyota (TM), bringing Toyota's total investment in the aerospace company to nearly $1 billion. Joby Aviation CEO JoeBen Bevirt joins Catalysts to discuss the news and the company's efforts to get its electric air taxis into the skies. "The Toyota family has had a dream of building aircraft for daily transportation since the founding of Toyota, and that has been passed down through the generations. And so now, we've had a relationship with Toyota for seven years ... We've expanded the partnership. We've had Toyota engineers working on-site with us in California, helping to design our processes and bring the incredible quality that Toyota is known for to aviation manufacturing. And so this is just an incredibly exciting time," Bevirt tells Yahoo Finance. He notes that with the funding, Joby is seeking to achieve a run-rate capacity of one aircraft a month by the end of the year. He explains that Joby will be expanding its operations in Marina, Calif., and is hiring new employees for its facility in Ohio. "We are beginning the baby steps of the early part of this journey, but with Toyota at our side, we have the capacity to take this to another level," Bevirt adds. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not ruled on its certification guidelines for electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. However, Bevirt explains that the FAA "is actually ahead of schedule," and a ruling may come soon. He explains, "We're very transparent about our progress. And every quarter, we release exactly how far Joby is and exactly the progress that the FAA has made on each of the five stages of certification. And this last quarter, we showed that we're more than a third of the way through stage four on the Joby side and the FAA is making great progress. And we're expecting that progress to continue to accelerate on both our side and the FAA side as we move into the back half of this year." Bevirt highlights that Joby's aircraft is faster than using ground transportation, noting it can "move more people more miles per hour." Thus, the company will be able to compete with services like Uber Black (UBER) while providing quicker transportation. He adds that Joby will be launching a piloted service in cities like New York and Los Angeles, arguing that it is a great way for consumers to travel while also fitting into the existing aviation ecosystem. For more on Joby, be sure to check out this episode of Yahoo Finance's NEXT series, where Catalysts host Madison Mills gets a firsthand look at Joby's electric air taxis. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Catalysts. This post was written by Melanie Riehl