Joby Aviation Partners with South Korea’s SK Telecom

An announcement Sunday offered details of the partnership. Joby – a developer of electric, vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft – will  leverage SK’s mobility platform and ride-hailing service UT to provide travel across multiple modes of ground and air transportation. Both Joby and UT are backed by Uber (NYSE:UBER). 

“With more than 42 million people living in urban areas, South Korea offers a remarkable opportunity for Joby to make air travel a part of daily life, helping people to save time while reducing their carbon footprint,” said Joby founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt in a statement.

Joby has been flying full-sized prototype air taxis since 2017 and has logged more than 1,000 test flights. A test article aircraft flew 150 sm on a single charge last year in California and recently achieved a speed of 205 mph (178 kts) and an altitude of more than 11,000 feet. 

The company says it’s on track to achieve full FAA certification and enter service by 2024. Joby plans to offer air taxi flights in the U.S. through the Uber ride-sharing app. 

The announcement comes nearly four months after rival eVTOL developer Volocopter performed what it called the “first ever crewed, public test flight of a fully electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) air taxi in South Korea.”

The Germany-based company has been working to expand into the Asian market since last year. 

Joby was singled out by Morgan Stanley last year as a leader in the race to develop zero-emission air taxis for quick flights over congested urban areas.