As per Electrive, the air taxi demonstration unit, which is able to take off and land vertically (eVTOL), was built by H2FLY. JoeBen Bevirt, Founder and CEO of Joby, said that "with our battery-electric air taxi set to fundamentally change the way we move around cities, we’re excited to now be building a technology stack that could redefine regional travel using hydrogen-electric aircraft. That world is closer than ever, and the progress we’ve made towards certifying the battery-electric version of our aircraft gives us a great head start as we look ahead to making hydrogen-electric flight a reality."

Joby Aviation previously built a battery-electric eVTOL aircraft, which it used for demonstration flights and the hydrogen-electric version used for this flight is an adaptation of that model, using a 40 kilograms capacity liquid hydrogen tank.

Officials at Joby Aviation also explore the possibility to implement autonomous aircraft, which is why they purchased Xwing, a startup that specialized in this type of vehicles and that was operating autonomous air vehicles since 2020. During its existence, the company was able to complete 250 non-human assisted flights and 500 auto-landings using its proprietary software, called "Superpilot'.

Photo source: Joby Aviation