The Toyota dealerships in Orange County particularly Toyota of Orange got a pleasant surprise when they found out that a successful entrepreneur, who owns Joby Aviation, has received almost a billion dollars in funding to essentially bring the Jetson world to life! The company promises to bring air taxis to a city near you by 2023!
The businessman behind this idea is none other than JoeBen Bevrit, who first thought about constructing an airplane that could take off and land similar to a helicopter in second grade while trying to schlep his way up a 4.5-mile road that led to his family’s home in a remote hippie settlement around the redwoods in Northern California.
Why Are Flying Cars So Important?
Due to this rough childhood experience, Bevrit wanted to make things easier for everyone. As he said laughingly, “It was a lonnnnng hill.” “It made me dream about a better way.”
Ever since his initial dream forty years ago, Bevirt is getting nearer to his goal. He has been working secretively on a ranch just outside of Santa Cruz, the surfing hub very close to where he grew up, to develop an electric airplane with six tilting propellers that can carry a pilot and four passengers 150 miles at up to 200 miles per hour.
At first, many were concerned about the level of noise pollution it would cause, however, Bevrit assured us that the aircraft is quiet enough to disappear amid the hustle and buzz of city life.
As of right now, the aircraft he has in mind has not been named yet. Many experts believe the manufacturing cost of such an aircraft could be anywhere from $400,000 to $1.5 million since you have to also weigh in the foundation for an enormous rooftop-to-rooftop air taxi network, which Bevrit plans to build and operate on his own.
Why Does He Want To Build Flying Cars?
Nowadays, the motor world is changing by the millisecond with the innovation of environmentally friendly vehicles, such as Toyota’s fleet of hybrid automobiles as well as hydrogen cell cars such as the Mirai.
Nevertheless, JoeBen Bevrit foresees a future in which he can help to free urbanites from the chaotic roads and give back the hour that a billion people waste every day from their daily commute. Besides time, he hopes to do all this at the same price as an UberX ride, which is approximately $2.50 a mile.
How Is Toyota Involved In Flying Cars?
This entire idea sounds out of this world for many people, but be that as it may, the 47-year-old entrepreneur has some powerful backers, such as Toyota. The Japanese car manufacturer pumped about $400 million into Bevrit’s Joby Aviation in January.
From Toyota and his other investors, Joby has managed to raise $745 million, which has recently been valued at $2.6 million. This project is near and dear to Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda since his grandfather Kiichiro, who was Toyota Motors’ founder and developed aircraft before World War II, always dreamt about an age of flying cars. Akio Toyoda hopes to realize his grandfather’s flying-car vision through Joby.
How Are They Producing Flying Cars?
At the moment, the engineers at Toyota are fine-tuning the components of Joby’s aircraft to make it easier to construct on a mass scale, just like they do for the auto industry. Also, Toyota is assisting Bevirt in establishing a factory in Monterey County where representatives of Toyota dealerships in Orange County say he is going to manufacture thousands of aircraft a year.
Are Flying Vehicles Necessary And Economically Feasible?
Without a doubt, Joby is very well funded and one of the most valuable startups to ever come around. They have managed to gain enough clout to advance to batteries and electric motors to steer aviation away from fossil fuels and produce new types of aircraft, including autonomous ones, to perform as air taxis.
Despite this, no one is sure how big this industry could be in the long term, or at all. Wall Street is setting forth some massive numbers. The used car dealerships in Orange County informs us that Morgan Stanley predicts that the category could generate $674 billion a year in fares globally by 2040.
“If we can fly, we can turn our streets into parks and fundamentally make our cities much nicer places to live in,” Bevirt says.
What Do The Skeptics Think About Flying Cars?
The idea of flying cars isn’t new at all. As mentioned before, many of us thought that by now flying cars would be here, just like when we grew up watching the Jetsons, and about 80% of their lifestyle is how we live ours today.
For instance, Toyota is working on robotic servants that can do housework for you just like the iconic housekeeping robot Rosie! We have talking alarm clocks, flat-screen TVs, video chats, smartwatches, Roombas, 3D printing (the Jetsons printed their food, but close enough), and the classic cartoon even foresaw space tourism.
Despite this, many dreamers of flying cars have tried (and failed) to build these types of vehicles for almost 100 years. In fact, skeptics believe that Joby and its competitors are still a decade too early. They think this because modern-day batteries pack 14 less usable energy by weight than jet fuel. Considering the amount of brute power that is required to propel an aircraft straight up, they explain, that until batteries get better, electric taxis won’t have enough range and carrying capacity to be economically feasible. Furthermore, there is also the issue of convincing regulators that they are safe to fly.
Nevertheless, Bevrit is confident that he can produce a practical, safe aircraft today using the highest quality lithium-ion battery cells that currently power electric cars. Additionally, Joby is the only start-up to invest in Uber’s ambitious timeline of launching an urban air service in 2023.
However, Bevrit remains optimistic that he is on the right track to gain safety certification from the Federal Aviation Administration in 2023, which would ultimately make Joby the first electric air-taxi maker to overcome this challenging obstacle.