Joby Advances Air Taxi and Autonomous Flight Programs

Joby Aviation, Inc. is carrying out two flight demonstration campaigns this month: a week-long electric air taxi campaign across Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, and a month-long, coast-to-coast tour of its autonomous J208 aircraft across 10 states.

The Texas flights mark the state's first White House-backed eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP) flights, conducted under TxDOT's Project Nexus proposal. Joby's eVTOL aircraft will fly real-world routes between Perot Field Fort Worth Alliance Airport, key urban locations, and Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), generating operational data the FAA needs to build safety rules for commercial service. The effort builds on airspace research with the FAA and NASA dating to 2018, and Joby has leased a 45,000-square-foot facility at Perot Field to support long-term operations in the region.

Separately, the autonomous J208 — a converted Cessna Caravan — has begun a tour with stops in Phoenix, Fort Worth, Shaw Air Force Base, Outer Banks, Raleigh, Stafford, Louisville, Wichita, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, and Portland, demonstrating capabilities for commercial freight, medical transport, disaster response, and defense logistics. The aircraft has accumulated more than 400 flights and 800 automated flight hours, using an autonomy stack integrated through Joby's 2024 acquisition of Xwing, and has been used in three U.S. military exercises, including REFORPAC in the Pacific and Hawaii. The J208 made a stop at Fort Worth Alliance Airport during the Texas campaign.

JoeBen Bevirt, Founder and CEO of Joby, said: "I'm incredibly excited by the potential for vertical lift in Texas, a state with the infrastructure, expertise, and partnerships to help lead the next era of American aviation. With TxDOT's leadership and support, the eIPP gives us an incredible opportunity to bring our aircraft into urban areas and accelerate our path to commercial service. This is just the beginning of what Texas and Joby can build together."