Joby Aviation’s recent debut of a very quiet eVTOL (electric Vertical Take Off and Landing) aircraft has caused a stir in the aviation and financial worlds. Silent operation, or as near silent as possible, is essential to the future success of the sky taxi ideal. Toward that end, JoeBen Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby Aviation, has been working out the many aspects of eVTOL flight for over the past decade. Starting with kites that would generate electricity and pass it down their tethers to ground-based substations, he advanced to investigate how tilting wings and tilting rotors could safely carry passengers to their destinations. He initially recruited a small band of engineers that’s grown to over 700 employees today and created sky taxi that’s drawn the attention of Toyota, Uber, and several venture capitalists. Selling the Silence Most makers of eVTOL machines promote their machines through videos that have musical soundtracks covering operational noises. This is true even for Joby, …
