Joby Aviation has struck a six-year agreement with the Road and Transport Authority (RTA) of Dubai to launch an air taxi service by 2026. The company is trying to start operations by 2025 and has a significant presence in the air mobility market.
His Excellency Mattar Al Tayer, Director-General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors for RTA said on occasion, “The air taxi service is part of RTA’s efforts to embrace future transportation technologies and offers a novel and efficient mobility option for Dubai’s residents and visitors, enabling fast, safe, and convenient travel to key city spots. This service will also enhance seamless multimodal transportation, improve citywide connectivity, and ensure a smooth travel experience for passengers.”
Air taxi will be piloted by a single pilot and has a capacity of four passengers; it is an eVTOL six-tilt rotor configuration. Flying speed is around 200 mph and the time of flight is a few minutes. However, it has the potential to reduce in-city travel time by a couple of minutes, which would otherwise take longer by road. All this is done in an environmentally friendly way.
Most recently, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave acceptance to the company’s propulsion system certification plan. As a novel electric propulsion system is the backbone of the eVTOL vehicle, this development is a milestone in the type certification of the vehicle. The certification plan includes an electric propulsion unit, propellers, variable-pitch actuation, a coolant pump, nacelles, and related components. (Read full story here : https://www.jobyaviation.com/news/joby-receives-faa-approval-for-propulsion-certification-plan/
Joby Aviation got serious attention after successfully demonstrating the “Air Taxi” capabilities of their platform in New York City. The aircraft flown from Downtown Heliport in Manhattan to JFK Airport. This flight took no more than 7 minutes on a route that would take up to 49 minutes by road.
The aircraft itself is not only radical in its design and performance, but it has a remarkably lower acoustic signature as well. Joby collaborated with NASA on this aspect and registered a sound pressure level (SPL) of 45.2 A-weighted decibels (dBA) while flying overhead at an altitude of 1640 ft. For comparison, this level of sound is equivalent to the noise of a typical refrigerator.
