Toyota and Joby complete Japan's first air taxi flight test

Joby Aviation – backed by Japanese automotive giant Toyota – conducted Japan's first electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) flight test over the weekend, edging closer to the reality of flying taxis. "We are here today to celebrate Joby's successful exhibition flight earlier this week, their first time to fly …

[DJ]

Solution in search of a problem?

This will be really nice.

Until there are more than a few of these buzzing around.

And bumping into things like power lines, buildings, drones, and each other.

Then again, the costs of buying, insuring, and maintaining them, not to mention liability coverage, will likely limit their numbers.

Mine's the one with the matching hard hat.

[Homo.Sapien.Floridanus]

Re: Solution in search of a problem?

I’m buying stock in umbrella companies. They will be in demand to stop the spit, cigarette butts and chewed bubble gum that’s going to rain down on the terrestrials.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Solution in search of a problem?

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It's in Japan. So that won't happen.

[EricB123]

Re: Solution in search of a problem?

Yes, no worries about trash being thrown in Japan. I've noticed in the absence of trash cans, they will just put their trash in their pocket and throw it out when they get home.

And they will undoubtedly invent the first automated flying taxi wash, as well.

[werdsmith]

Re: Solution in search of a problem?

The solution in this case is the same as a small helicopter in transportation mode. Except that this one has no emissions at the point of use and is much quieter. Also small helicopters with one engine are actually quite restricted in how they take off and approach to land limiting options. I’m not sure of the bad weather capabilities of this Joby but small helicopters are quite restricted there too.

People with a lot of money do like to avoid traffic. São Paulo is a good example of where helicopters are used this way.

[tony72]

Re: Solution in search of a problem?

I don't know about Joby, but Scott Manley visited Archer Aviation in a recent YouTube video, and I was impressed by how much redundancy they seem to have in their aircraft, I came out of that video with a much improved opinion of how safe these things could potentially be as well - they have multiple battery packs powering separate sets of motors, so they can handle losing a battery pack or a motor etc. I can see eVTOLs being potentially significantly safer than a conventional helicopter eventually.

[A. Coatsworth]

Re: Solution in search of a problem?

You can throw all the redundancy you want at the machines, they will only be as safe as the pilot at the helm[1]. If this is massified, the barrier of entry will be lowered, meaning underpreprared people will be flying these things over densely populated places, which does not sound appealing.

[1] No mention in the note of how the test was piloted, but I'd hope no one is mental enough to try and put to production a fully automated deathflying machine

[MachDiamond]

Re: Solution in search of a problem?

" If this is massified, the barrier of entry will be lowered, meaning underpreprared people will be flying these things over densely populated places, which does not sound appealing."

That will depend on where in the world they are. A company in the US would have to be able to survive long enough to get all of their certifications in order. I'd have a hard time seeing how they'd lower standards for a pilot's certificate and type endorsement. I have a certificate and can see why we are made to study all the stuff and have to know it for our tests. Dumb it down and there's going to be a huge problem since this isn't for craft flying in the bush, but in dense urban environments. If standards are maintained, there will be pilot shortages. I'd expect it will be more stressful than flying a Cessna Citation for company or ferrying supplies from Florida to the Bahamas in a Cessna Caravan. Anybody that logs the hours they need to move up, will.

[Cliffwilliams44]

Re: Solution in search of a problem?

It's not traffic they are avoiding in Sao Paulo, it's driving through the crime infested shanty towns that the police won't even enter, all this to get from their walled in communities to their place of work.

Coming to a northern hemisphere western city near you I am sure if things keep going the way they are.

[Homo.Sapien.Floridanus]

Re: Solution in search of a problem?

Swat fodder for Godzilla and Rodan.

[Anonymous Coward]

Save Our Soles?

Well, if this ride costs $720 for 10 minutes (even after 16 years of development), then I say ... "it's not the destination maaan, it's the journey" ... chillax ... work from home ... save the planet!

[Dr_N]

Re: Save Our Soles?

Downvoted for "chillax".

[CowHorseFrog]

Heres a crazy idea, dont travel hours just to have a stupid meeting. Then again corporate types wouldnt have an excuse to exist or visit prostitutes if they did their meetings on zoom and then everyone might realise they do nothing.

[Neil Barnes]

...would take 25 minutes – compared to up to two hours in a road vehicle.

Takes 25 minutes for _one_ flying thing, compared to how many thousand wheeled vehicles vying for the same piece of road?

And how long does it take for the same number of flying things to fight for the same airspace?

[Big_Boomer]

Millionaires take note,...

... because very few other people will be able to afford "air taxis". They are up against simple physics. Travel by air takes at best 3 times the energy for the same trip, so you are spending energy to save time. If your time is that valuable, good for you, but as others have said, why not just have a virtual meeting instead and use nearly ZERO energy comparatively. You can save your companies vast amounts of money that could be used to invest in staff who invent, design, produce, install, and support your products. There's a novel idea for you!

[John Brown (no body)]

Re: Millionaires take note,...

OXFAM just did a pretty damming report of the pollution emissions per person for billionaires. Ok, needs a pinch of salt since they have an axe to grind, but still, it makes for interesting reading. Not just the private jets and super yachts, but their investments in not so green companies they'd rather you didn't really know about if possible. On the other hand, that's pretty much every business out there in reality. They only go all gung ho on "greenness" when there's a business case for it such as inner city pollution charges and grants encouraging EVs for deliveries. I see loads of all electric Amazon delivery vehicles in Newcastle where petrol or diesel would have to pay charges, but never see EV Amazon vans 'round our way which is not in a low emissions zone.

[MachDiamond]

Re: Millionaires take note,...

"I see loads of all electric Amazon delivery vehicles in Newcastle where petrol or diesel would have to pay charges, but never see EV Amazon vans 'round our way which is not in a low emissions zone."

Route distances can be a thing and there's a difference if the vans are owned and operated by Amazon, UPS, DHL or are owned by a local contractor that's making pennies of profit per km and can't afford the upfront cost of an electric van. I expect that the low emissions zones are in dense city centres so those routes will be covered by the big company since stops are so close together and the order value per stop might be higher as well. In combination with tax initiatives, it's cheaper for the eTailer to roll their own.

[Zolko]

Re: Millionaires take note,...

Travel by air takes at best 3 times the energy for the same trip

I'd be interested to see the study proving this. For example, the Pipistrel Virus cruises at 246km/h and consumes 13l/h (at cruise) thus 13l/250km => 5.2l/100km for 2 people. At 250km/h !!! I'd like to see a car traveling at 250km/h at consuming 5.2l/100km petrol.

The reason is actually simple: a car must overcome wind and road resistance, while an aircraft only needs to fight wind resistance. So if it's well designed, travel by air can be more efficient than travel by car.

[MachDiamond]

Re: Millionaires take note,...

"while an aircraft only needs to fight wind resistance."

A portion of that wind resistance is drag due to having to create lift so the plane stays in the air. Two people fit in the Virus, but you are reading too much into the specs to say that the aircraft can go 246kmh(airspeed) at MTOW and still hit that fuel efficiency once in cruise. Keep in mind that aircraft are defined in terms of airspeed so any sort of wind, and there usually is some, can take away from ground speed. An automobile is rated by ground speed.

[Big_Boomer]

Re: Millionaires take note,...

Cars do not need to expend vast amounts of energy getting airborne (altitude requires energy) that is bled off through drag when descending at the other end. However, I was referring to the air-taxi which is a VTOL energy guzzler, not some super efficient private plane that requires at minimum a STOL green field airstrip at either end of the journey. As an example, a Toyota Aygo can carry the same as (probably considerably more than) your Virus and would use around 10Litres for your 246Km trip, but it would take just over 2 hours as opposed to your Virus taking 1 hour but doesn't need a runway nor need to gain altitude. Flying is VERY inefficient compared to ground transport, but it is faster and can be more convenient.

[xyz]

Err... A joby in Scotalnd is a shit.

See above.

[Gideon 1]

Safety

What happens when the power fails? Splat.

[LogicGate]

Re: Safety

Which is why the propulsion components of a VTOL are required to comply with Design Assurance Level (DAL) A (catastrophic).

DAL-A is not easily obtainable, and rarely found in the wild.

[MachDiamond]

Re: Safety

"What happens when the power fails? Splat."

I'd be more worried about weather/wind. If pilots get used to normal wind patterns and then one day the wind is coming from an odd direction and a few buildings are causing turbulence they aren't prepared for, splat. I'm on my third set of batteries for my quadcopter and I've never had a power failure. The last set of aircraft batteries were on the weedy side towards the end of the time I was using them. Structure is also a concern. Putting redundancy in the electronics doesn't mass that much, but beefing up the airframe certainly will.

I was going to work on a firefighting drone and the company owner and I got in a little work before he passed away and structural loads were our biggest concern. It would have been a hybrid aircraft that could fly programmed routes and remotely by a pilot if needed so if there were an issue, the pilot would be able to get it on the ground safely if that were possible.

[trevorde]

It ain't happening

until Elon says Tesla are doing it!

[IGotOut]

Re: It ain't happening

And then its definitely coming next yeah.

[IGotOut]

Bladerunner (movie)

It's getting closer to reality everyday.