It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s your Uber?
The futuristic fantasy of taxis soaring above congested city streets flew closer to reality today when Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced a $500 million investment in a Dayton-area production facility for the lofty livery vehicles.
Santa Cruz, California-based Joby Aviation, which accepted $325 million in government incentives to open the 140-acre plant, is only one company racing to bring the hotly-anticipated electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle to market as early as 2025.
The relatively quiet, high-tech cabs — able to taking off and touching down vertically and of traveling at considerable speeds and over distances comparable to some old-model electric cars — have increasingly been within the news, as airlines like United partner with manufacturers to make the once-pie-in-the-sky dream a reality.
One such company, Blade, has announced the eventual launch of swift, near-silent service from Midtown Manhattan to the Hamptons. Wing, a Google subsidiary, has already used eVTOL vehicles for package delivery. Some don’t even require a pilot’s license to operate.
To this point, Joby has logged roughly 30,000 hours on prototypes of the dronelike craft, which might accommodate 4 passengers and a pilot. The manufacturer, which purchased Uber Elevate in late 2020, expects to start offering ride-sharing service in 2025, in response to the Associated Press.
“Flying with us might feel more like entering into an SUV than boarding a plane,” in response to Joby’s website, which states that a 7-minutes trip from lower Manhattan to JFK can be feasible.
Joby has already partnered with major transportation and tech corporations including Toyota, Delta Air Lines and Intel.
The chosen site — currently slated for two,000 recent jobs — sits in close proximity to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which houses the headquarters of the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Joby was founded quietly in 2009 and went public in 2021, afterward becoming the primary eVTOL firm awarded an airworthiness certification by the US Air Force.
“We’ve worked with several corporations to speed up the event and adoption of advanced aerial mobility technologies, akin to electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft, and we’re thrilled to see the outcomes of that investment strengthening the Defense Industrial Base,” said Brig. Gen. Scott Cain, commander of the AFRL.
“Ohio is No. 3 within the nation on manufacturing jobs — and that depth of producing prowess, that workforce, is critical to us as we glance to construct this manufacturing facility,” Gov. DeWine said.
“We discover this very, very exciting — not just for the direct jobs and indirect jobs it’s going to create, but … it’s a signal to those that Ohio is seeking to the longer term. This can be a big deal for us,” he continued.
