A peek into the future? Joby Aviation unveiled its first flying taxi-like aircraft today at the Marina Airport.

Kyarra Harris here, thinking about transportation. I’m a huge fan of my car, and when you live in a car-centric area it’s pretty essential to getting around. I am not a big fan of traffic created by cars, but as a Californian, I am used to it.

Traffic is what Joby Aviation sees as a problem—and the Santa Cruz-based company, which has a production facility in Marina, has created a potential solution. Today, the company gave a demonstration of the first aircraft created on its pilot production line in Marina. The aircraft is an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicle with the goal of operating quickly, quietly, and emission-free. Joby is envisioning this project as a passenger service in a way that would alleviate traffic and get you to and from your destination faster. 

At first glance, the Joby aircraft looks like a small helicopter. It’s compact, sleek, and black and white in color, but the technology inside is what’s pretty impressive. 

The aircraft runs on a long-lasting battery that can charge quickly in between flights—in fact, Joby claims it can charge faster than passengers are boarded onto a traditional plane. 

During a presentation, officials said the aircraft can hold up to 1,000 pounds, make trips up to 100 miles and travel up to 200 mph. One of the defining features is how little sound the aircraft makes. Joby claims the aircraft is about 45 dBA in cruise, which is the same noise level of everyday background noise, or a radio playing in a room. “It's planned to be as quiet as a conversation on takeoff and barely perceptible from the ground when flying overhead,” a Joby spokesperson says via email. 

How might we use these vehicles in the future? In examples given during the demonstration, officials suggested you might take a Joby aircraft from your home city directly to an airport in a larger city. The company is also designing an air taxi service to “complement existing travel options,” and would work with partners like Uber and Delta to create an app with services and amenities people are familiar with. 

Part of the big announcement today is that the Federal Aviation Administration approved Joby for test flights for this aircraft, a major step forward for the company. The next step is to secure approval for commercial operations. Next year, Joby plans to send the aircraft to Edwards Air Force Base in Kern County, “where it will be used to demonstrate a range of potential logistics use cases,” according to the company. 

Visiting the Marina Airport this morning was like walking into the pages of a sci-fi novel. Joby employees shared a lot of interesting ideas, some that seemed a little far-fetched for today’s technology. And yet—I witnessed a small passenger vehicle, a potential part of our transportation future, flying around. It’ll likely be a few more years before we see anything like this commercially—and questions remain as to whether we’ll see commercial production continue in Marina or at another location—but steps towards the future are definitely worth keeping an eye on.

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