Joby Aviation
Joby Aviation, listed in New York, is developing the S4, an electric air taxi, along with the software and charging needed to run an air taxi service.
Founded in 2009 with 1,001 to 5,000 staff, it builds ElevateOS for scheduling, dispatch and passenger matching, Superpilot for supervised autonomous flight and a global charging system for electric aircraft. It also has an airspace partnership with Air Space Intelligence, agreed in April 2026. The register has not verified its description.
Joby acquired the autonomy division of Xwing, the San Francisco developer of Superpilot, in June 2024; Superpilot now forms part of Joby's own autonomy work.
No verified deployments yet
Joby Aviation is profiled in the companies register, but no deployment has been verified against published evidence. Records are added as evidence is reviewed and graded.
Products & Solutions
4 productsJoby S4 eVTOL Air Taxi
An all-electric, six-propeller tilt-rotor aircraft designed for vertical takeoff and landing, carrying one pilot and four passengers at up to 200 mph with zero operating emissions.
Provides fast, low-noise, zero-emission urban and regional air transportation without requiring a runway, addressing urban congestion and the limitations of conventional helicopter services in terms of noise and emissions.
- Vertical takeoff and landing, no runway required
- Top speed up to 200 mph (174 knots)
- Range of 100–150 miles per charge
- 45 dBA noise level in cruise from 500m altitude (quieter than conventional helicopters)
11 more features
- 65 dBA noise level at landing from 100m altitude
- Six tilt-propeller units with five blades each, four on forward wing, two on aft V-tail
- Triple-redundant flight control computer
- Dual critical actuation systems
- Four independent battery packs with fault isolation
- Dual-wound propulsion motors (six total)
- Fly-by-wire unified flight control
- Carbon-fiber composite airframe (titanium-aluminum-carbon fiber)
- Service ceiling 10,000 ft
- Zero operating emissions
- Compatible with GEACS fast-charging system (sub-8-minute charge time)
Technical specifications (15)
- Passengers: 1 pilot + 4 passengers
- Maximum takeoff weight: 5,300 lbs (2,400 kg)
- Empty weight: approximately 4,300 lbs (1,950 kg)
- Maximum payload: approximately 1,000 lbs (453 kg)
- Top speed: 200 mph (322 km/h / 174 knots)
- Service ceiling: 10,000 ft (3,048 m)
- Range: 100–150 miles (161–241 km)
- Noise: 45 dBA cruise at 500m; 65 dBA landing at 100m
- Propulsion: 6 electric tilt-propeller units, 5 blades each
- Battery: 4 independent lithium-ion polymer packs, 288 Wh/kg cell-level specific energy
- Airframe: Carbon-fiber composite
- Flight controls: Triple-redundant fly-by-wire
- Gross weight: 2,400 kg / 5,300 lbs
- Luggage: 4 carry-on bags
- Propeller transition speed: 45–90 knots
- FAA Special Airworthiness Certification (pre-production prototypes)
- U.S. Air Force Airworthiness Approval (pre-production prototypes)
- FAA Type Certification, Stage 4 of 5 (in progress; TIA flight testing initiated March 2026 with N547JX)
- FAA Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate (operator certificate)
- eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) participant (White House-backed, 2026)
ElevateOS
A proprietary software operating system developed in-house for managing high-tempo, on-demand air taxi operations.
Enables the safe scheduling, dispatch, payment, passenger matching, and real-time management of on-demand air taxi operations at scale, replacing manual or legacy aviation operations software with a purpose-built air mobility platform.
- Mobile-first rider app for booking flights with free choice of timing, origin, and destination
- Pilot app integrated with back-end operational systems
- Operations and schedule management software
- Intelligent matching engine, pairs passengers with available aircraft based on route similarity, modeled on ride-hailing algorithms
4 more features
- Integrated payment processing for chartered and shared flights
- Real-time automation tools for passenger and route matching
- Designed for high-tempo, on-demand operational tempo
- Available to selected partner operators as part of wider aircraft sales package
Technical specifications (4)
- FAA-authorized software suite under Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate
- Developed in-house; integrated with industry partner systems
- Supports whole-aircraft charter and shared-seat booking models
- Backend operational software integrated with pilot and rider apps
- FAA authorization to operate under Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate
Superpilot
An autonomous flight software platform enabling gate-to-gate uncrewed aircraft operations managed from ground control stations. Originally developed by Xwing, Inc.
Enables safe, supervised uncrewed or pilot-monitoring autonomous flight operations for both commercial and defense logistics applications, reducing dependence on onboard pilots for routine cargo and transport missions and enabling operations in contested or high-risk environments.
- Gate-to-gate autonomous flight management (described as world's first)
- Autonomous mission management, determines, requests, and follows optimal flight paths
- Adapts in real-time to weather changes, ATC instructions, and unexpected events
- Radar, LiDAR, and vision sensor fusion for environmental awareness and object localization
8 more features
- Detect and avoid algorithms
- Ground control station management, capable of remote operation from 3,000+ miles
- Supports all airspace classes (B, C, D, uncontrolled) under VFR and IFR
- Hub-and-spoke logistics, cargo delivery, ISR, and inter-island transport profiles
- Predictive system health monitoring (development stage with NVIDIA IGX Thor)
- Digital twin modeling for mission optimization (development stage)
- Intuitive human-machine teaming interface
- AI and machine learning algorithm integration
Technical specifications (6)
- Currently integrated on Cessna Caravan 208 / 208B Grand Caravan platform
- Completed 250+ fully autonomous flights prior to Joby acquisition (Xwing era)
- Completed 500+ auto-landings prior to Joby acquisition (Xwing era)
- REFORPAC 2025 exercise: 7,342 autonomous miles over 43.7 flight hours; 6 sorties covering 2,416 miles; Pacific Ocean crossing (4,925-mile roundtrip ferry)
- Ground control operated from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam (3,000+ miles from flight area)
- Development compute platform: NVIDIA IGX Thor (Blackwell architecture), Joby is NVIDIA's sole aviation launch partner
- FAA official project designation for large UAS certification (April 2023, Xwing era, carried over)
- U.S. Air Force Military Flight Release (2024, Xwing era, carried over)
- Validated in REFORPAC (U.S. Pacific Air Forces Department-Level Exercise, 2025)
- Pursuing certifiable autonomy for civil applications per FAA advanced airspace standards (in development)
GEACS (Global Electric Aviation Charging System)
A proprietary ground-based fast-charging system designed specifically for electric aircraft and eVTOL operations. Offloads battery cooling apparatus from the aircraft to the ground station, reducing aircraft weight, and houses charging algorithms in ground equipment to simplify FAA re-certification of software updates.
Provides purpose-built, high-speed electric aircraft charging infrastructure for vertiports and air taxi networks, addressing the limitations of adapted automotive EV charging standards (such as CCS) that are not optimized for aviation thermal management, weight constraints, or operational tempo requirements.
- Liquid coolant delivered via charging cable to battery packs for active thermal management
- Battery cooling apparatus located on ground station rather than aircraft, reduces aircraft weight
- Sub-8-minute charge time for Joby S4
- Charging algorithms housed in ground equipment, simplifies FAA re-certification of software updates
4 more features
- High-bandwidth one-way gigabit data connection for post-flight data offload
- Supports predictive maintenance via real-world flight data collection
- Designed from first principles for air taxi operational tempo requirements
- Being standardized as ARP8486 in the SAE International AE-7D committee
Technical specifications (4)
- Liquid-cooled charging cable interface
- One-way gigabit data connection for aircraft data offload
- Charge time: under 8 minutes for Joby S4
- SAE International ARP8486 standardization (in progress)
- SAE International ARP8486 standardization process (in progress, AE-7D committee)
Xwing autonomy technology (autonomy division acquired 2024)
Profile data from the Aerostack companies register; deployment records from the verified register. Evidence grades: T1 first-party confirmation, T2 credible reporting. See Our approach for how records are graded.