Watch: Japan sees its first test of eco-friendly flying taxi
By Bryan Ke
California-based Joby Aviation, backed by Japanese automotive giant Toyota, conducted its first flight test of an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) in Japan. Known as the country’s first air taxi flight test, the trial took place at Toyota’s Higashi-Fuji Technical Center in Shizuoka over the weekend.
- About the project: Combining elements from helicopters, drones and small aircraft, the five-seater air taxi — allowing for one pilot and four passengers — can reach speeds of up to 200 miles (321.8 kilometers) per hour. During the test, Toyota CTO Hiroki Nakajima boasted that Joby’s eVTOL could take passengers from Shizuoka to Tokyo in just 25 minutes, as opposed to two hours via road. The project is the culmination of the two companies’ nearly seven-year-long collaboration. Last year, they reached an agreement specifying that Toyota will supply Joby with key powertrain and actuation components for the air vehicle. Joby founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt aims to make the air taxi commercially available by next year.
- Why it matters: The project aims to reduce traffic congestion in Japan, provide transportation options and minimize environmental impact through the air taxi’s emission-free operation, which also produces less noise than helicopters. In a statement, Bevirt noted that the test marked “a significant milestone on our journey towards making clean air travel an everyday reality.” Meanwhile, Nakajima said the project could potentially change “our ‘sense of distance and time’” and open “a future with the new option of air mobility that will further enrich the lives of many people.” The TomTom Traffic Index report listed three Japanese cities in 2023 with having the worst traffic in the world, namely Sapporo in Hokkaido at No. 14, Nagoya, the capital of Aichi Prefecture, at No. 25 and Tokyo at No. 27.
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