Joby Aviation's VTOL aircraft Joby AviationThe marketplace for Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) aircraft is heating up. Last week, Toyota Motor Corporation, the iconic Japanese car maker, announced a new $394M investment in Joby Aviation, a Santa Cruz, CA-based air taxi startup. Past the VTOL aircraft, the company plans to build a “transportation-as-a-service” product that can be deployed into a networked city at scale. Uber Elevate, meanwhile, is tackling both the hardware and the flight network to make air taxis possible. Joby’s new cash injection should help it compete as the flying taxi space comes into focus and reaches launch in the next few years.

Source: Forbes January 18, 2020 19:30 UTC