Toyota takes to the skies; JV with Joby Aviation to produce small and light electric aircraft taxis

Toyota Motor Corp. is expanding its footprint in the air mobility sector by establishing a new manufacturing joint venture with U.S.-based aviation startup Joby Aviation Inc. The new entity, named Joby Toyota Aero Manufacturing Preparation Co., will lay the operational groundwork for the commercial mass production of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

Based in California, the joint venture is structured with Toyota holding a controlling 51 percent majority stake, while Joby Aviation retains the remaining 49 percent.

Founded in 2009 by inventor JoeBen Bevirt, Joby Aviation is a California-based aerospace company that has spent over a decade working on the development of eVTOL aircraft. They are essentially in the race to launch commercial, zero-emission aerial ridesharing networks—often referred to as flying air taxis.

Key takeaway

This partnership officially transitions Toyota from a passive financial investor into an active manufacturing partner. By embedding its high-volume production expertise directly into Joby’s assembly strategy, Toyota aims to drastically scale the manufacturing capacity of these electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

The vehicles themselves function as urban air taxis capable of vertical flight, meaning they bypass the structural need for traditional, space-consuming airport runway infrastructure entirely. This move highlights a broader macroeconomic trend where major legacy automakers are branching out into the airspace to lock down a dominant position in the future urban mobility ecosystem; Chinese brands like Xpeng are looking into that as well.

Not the first time Toyota's flying

This type of industrial crossover is a page right out of Toyota's long-term playbook. Historically, the company has regularly loaned its manufacturing prowess to the aviation and marine sectors. Most notably, Toyota spent years embedding its engineers within Joby's California facilities to implement the Toyota Production System (TPS) long before taking a controlling stake in this new joint venture.

Toyota TAA-1 prototype from the early 2000s

In previous decades, Toyota also applied its quality control and lean manufacturing methodologies to its own internal aviation experiments, including the development of various light aircraft concepts like the Toyota TAA-1 prototype in the early 2000s.