Joby Achieves Testing Landmark with Piloted Aircraft

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04/29/2025 - 06:00 AM

First full transition flights with pilot onboard
Marks critical step toward starting FAA flight testing
Company remains on-track to start flight testing in Dubai mid-year

SANTA CRUZ, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Joby Aviation, Inc. (NYSE:JOBY), a company developing electric air taxis for commercial passenger service, today announced it has reached a landmark moment in its aircraft test program, successfully completing flights with a full transition from vertical to cruise flight, and back again, with a pilot onboard.

Joby test pilot James “Buddy” Denham flying a fully transitioned Joby aircraft above the company’s facilities in Marina, California. Photo: Joby Aviation

Transitioning from vertical to horizontal flight is a key design attribute of the Joby aircraft, allowing it to take-off and land vertically like a helicopter, while maintaining the efficiency and speed of a conventional, fixed-wing aircraft in forward flight. This unique capability will enable Joby to deliver rapid and seamless passenger service directly to popular destinations.

Joby purposefully set out to demonstrate remotely-piloted transition first, completing the first transition of a full-scale, prototype aircraft in 2017. The Company has since completed more than 40,000 miles of test flights across multiple aircraft, including hundreds of transitions from vertical take-off to cruise flight as well as more than a hundred flights with a pilot onboard in hover and low-speed flight.

Since completing a landmark first full transition flight with a pilot onboard on April 22, 2025, the Company has completed multiple transition flights with three different pilots at the controls, as Joby becomes the first company to routinely perform inhabited testing of an electric air taxi from hover to wingborne flight.

Didier Papadopolous, President of Aircraft OEM at Joby, commented: “Achieving this milestone is hugely significant for Joby. It not only demonstrates the high level of confidence we have in the performance of the aircraft as we prepare for commercial service in Dubai, it also paves the way to starting TIA flight testing with FAA pilots onboard.

“We have taken a very methodical approach to achieving this long-planned milestone, with an immense amount of testing, both in the air and on the ground, helping form a solid foundation that allowed us to move from one historic flight to routine pilot-on-board transitions almost overnight.”

The first pilot-on-board transition was flown by Joby Chief Test Pilot James “Buddy” Denham and took place at Joby’s flight test facility in Marina, California. Denham, who has flown more than 60 different aircraft types, joined Joby in 2019 after retiring from Naval Air Systems Command where he led the research and development of the joint US-UK Unified Control Concept that was successfully integrated into the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter.

The flight saw Denham execute a vertical take-off in the latest aircraft to roll off Joby’s Marina production line (N544JX), before climbing out and accelerating to fully wingborne flight and returning for a vertical landing on the runway.

Commenting on the flight, Denham said: “I’m honored to have played a role in this historic moment. Designing and flying an aircraft that can seamlessly transition between vertical and cruise flight has long been considered one of the most challenging technological feats in aerospace, but our team has developed and built an aircraft that makes it feel like an everyday task. The aircraft flew exactly as expected, with excellent handling qualities and low pilot workload.”

In preparation for achieving pilot-on-board transition flight, Joby completed thousands of tests in the Company’s Integrated Test Lab, a ground-based facility which replicates all of the major systems of the aircraft, allowing the team to test propulsion units, actuators, and other aircraft hardware and software that is identical to the Company’s prototype aircraft before taking to the air.

Joby also completed a series of flight tests at Edwards Air Force Base designed to confirm the redundancy present throughout the aircraft’s design, with remote, ground-based pilots handling simulated motor-out, battery-out, and other potential in-flight events. In all cases, the aircraft performed as expected, enabling Joby pilots to continue safe flight and a controlled, vertical landing, even when relying on just four of the aircraft’s six propellers.

As well as completing testing at its base in California, Joby has also previously completed demonstration flights in New York City, Japan, and Korea. Joby currently has five aircraft in its flight test fleet, with two delivered to Edwards Air Force Base for testing in conjunction with the Company’s defense customers.

Joby’s all-electric air taxi is designed to transport a pilot and up to four passengers at speeds of up to 200 mph (321 km/h), offering high-speed mobility with a fraction of the noise produced by helicopters and zero operating emissions. Joby remains on track to deliver an aircraft to Dubai in the middle of 2025 to complete flight testing ahead of first passenger flights in the region.

Hi-resolution photos and video footage of Joby’s aircraft flying wingborne with a pilot onboard are available here.

About Joby

Joby Aviation, Inc. (NYSE:JOBY) is a California-based transportation company developing an all-electric, vertical take-off and landing air taxi which it intends to operate as part of a fast, quiet, and convenient service in cities around the world. To learn more, visit www.jobyaviation.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including but not limited to, statements regarding the development and performance of our aircraft, the growth of our manufacturing capabilities, our regulatory outlook, progress and timing, including our expectation to begin Type Inspection Authorization within 12 months from February 2025, our plans to deliver an aircraft to Dubai in mid-2025, and the expected timing of type certification; our business plan, objectives, goals and market opportunity; plans for, and potential benefits of, our strategic partnerships; and our current expectations relating to our business, financial condition, results of operations, prospects, capital needs and growth of our operations, including the expected benefits of our vertically-integrated business model. You can identify forward-looking statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements may include words such as “anticipate”, “estimate”, “expect”, “project”, “plan”, “intend”, “believe”, “may”, “will”, “should”, “can have”, “likely” and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of the timing or nature of future operating or financial performance or other events. All forward looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially, including: our ability to launch our air taxi service and the growth of the urban air mobility market generally; our ability to produce aircraft that meet our performance expectations in the volumes and on the timelines that we project; complexities related to obtaining certification and operating in foreign markets; the competitive environment in which we operate; our future capital needs; our ability to adequately protect and enforce our intellectual property rights; our ability to effectively respond to evolving regulations and standards relating to our aircraft; our reliance on third-party suppliers and service partners; uncertainties related to our estimates of the size of the market for our service and future revenue opportunities; and other important factors discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on February 27, 2025, and in future filings and other reports we file with or furnish to the SEC. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates and beliefs as of the date of this release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change.