Joby Aviation said on Wednesday its first production electric air taxi has begun flying and the aircraft will undergo certification testing by U.S. federal regulators to obtain a type inspection authorization (TIA), a major milestone in the aircraft's certification for commercial operations.
Joby Aviation said pilots have begun preliminary testing of the air taxi at the company's base in Marina, California. The test flight is a precursor to an evaluation by Federal Aviation Administration pilots later this year.
Joby Aviation has been working with regulators for several years to obtain approval of the design, plans and components used to build the aircraft. The aircraft is the company's first mass-produced model. Joby's test pilots have flown more than 50,000 miles (approximately 80,500 kilometers) on the company's development aircraft.
Joby's air taxi is a six-rotor electric aircraft that can take off and land vertically like a helicopter and fly horizontally like an airplane. It can accommodate a pilot and four passengers inside. The company plans to start operations in Dubai later this year and already has two of four landing sites under construction in the country, which it announced in February.
The company will launch limited operations in the United States this year as part of a White House-backed initiative to speed the integration of electric air taxis and other small aircraft into the nation's airspace. Joby is one of five companies participating in eight pilot projects announced on Monday by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which oversees the program.
Joby plans to produce four aircraft per month by 2027, with production facilities located in Dayton, California, and Dayton, Ohio.