Toyota Motor Corp. is the lead investor in a massive $590 million funding round announced today for Californian-based aerospace company Joby Aviation, which is aiming to bring “flying taxis” to American skies within the next few years.

Existing investors Toyota AI Ventures, Intel Capital, Sparx Group, Capricorn Investment Group, JetBlue Technology Ventures and AME Cloud Ventures, and new investors Baillie Gifford and Global Oryx also participated in the Series C round, which brings Joby’s total amount raised to $720 million.

Toyota contributed $349 million to the latest round, and executive vice president Shigeki Tomoyama will join Joby’s board of directors. For its part, Joby will gain access to Toyota’s “cost controls and engineering and manufacturing expertise” to help with the development of its flying taxis.

“Air transportation has been a long-term goal for Toyota, and while we continue our work in the automobile business, this agreement sets our sights to the sky,” said Toyota Chief Executive Officer Akio Toyoda. “As we take up the challenge of air transportation together with Joby, we hope to deliver freedom of movement and enjoyment to customers everywhere, on land, and now, in the sky.”

Joby has been working on developing its flying taxis for a decade, and says it believes it will be “instrumental” in the commercial launch of the on-demand urban air taxi market.

The company has developed an electric-powered, five-seater flying vehicle that’s said to be able to reach speeds of 200 miles per hour and capable of covering 150 miles on a single battery charge. It can also perform vertical take offs and landings, and is said to be 100 times quieter than a conventional aircraft.

Joby has been flight testing its aircraft since 2017, and is aiming to get them certified for commercial flights in the U.S. by the Federal Aviation Authority.

It isn’t alone in trying to make flying taxis a reality, however. It faces stiff competition from Uber Technologies Inc. and Hyundai Motor Co., which revealed their own design at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month. Uber and Hyundai’s vehicles will initially be piloted, though the companies ultimately want to make the craft fully autonomous.

Uber Air has previously said it will start conducting test flights of its flying vehicle later this year in Dallas, Los Angeles and Melbourne, Australia. It has also named Brazil, France, India and Japan as possible launch markets for their flying taxi service.

Other companies trying to crack the flying taxi market include the German startup Lilium GmbH, which has raised over $100 million from investors including the royal family of Liechtenstein’s investment fund, China’s Tencent Corp. and Evan Williams, one of the founders of Twitter Inc.

Another German firm, Volocopter GmbH, last September raised $55 million to help fund its own flying taxi and is aiming for a commercial launch within the next three years.

Photo: Joby Aviation