Ep 148: JoeBen Bevirt, Founder & CEO of Joby Aviation — Flying Cars Have Arrived
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Joby's vertical integration and Toyota partnership are key to mass production - By controlling the manufacturing stack and leveraging Toyota’s high-reliability standards, Joby is scaling to produce aircraft that are 100x quieter and significantly safer than traditional helicopters.
“Toyota is one of our most significant investors... Toyota is known around the world for the quality and the reliability with which they build.”
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Commercial air taxi services are launching in 12 states under new FAA programs - The EVTOL Integration Pilot Program (EIPP) has accelerated regulatory approval, potentially allowing the public to pay for rides as early as the end of this year.
“There's going to be 12 states across the country where we're going to be able to test these next generation technologies... [and buy a ride] As soon as the end of this year.”
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AI and hydrogen are providing 10x gains in aviation engineering and range - AI-driven design is radically increasing aerodynamic productivity while new hydrogen-based propulsion systems promise to extend flight range at a much lower cost than batteries alone.
“You take one of the greatest aerodynamic minds on the planet and you enable him with something that makes him 10x as productive. The benefits compound in a crazy way.”