The American company, Uber has sold its flying taxi enterprise Elevate in order to focus on its core business and reach profitability. It was the last of several of its outlandish research and development projects it hoped would pay off significantly in the future.
The move will allow Joby to use Uber’s app to offer air taxi rides when the company’s aircraft eventually enters service, which could be as soon as 2023. While terms of the transaction were not released, Uber has agreed to invest $75 million in Joby Aviation. Earlier this year, Uber invested $50 million in Joby as part of the company’s Series C financing round.
“We were proud to partner with Uber Elevate last year and we’re even prouder to be welcoming them into the Joby team today,” Joby Aviation founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt said in a statement. “This deal allows us to deepen our partnership with Joby, the clear leader in this field, to accelerate the path to market for these technologies,” Uber CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, added. “We’re excited for their transformational mobility solution to become available to the millions of customers who rely on our platform.” Joby Aviation has raised $820 million to date, with Uber having invested $125 million thus far.
Parting with the Advanced Technologies Group and Uber Elevate will allow the ride-hailing giant to save hundreds of millions of dollars that would have been required over the next several years to develop autonomous ride-hailing and urban air taxi services.
For Joby Aviation, incorporating Uber Elevate could help the company achieve its goal of offering short rides in urban areas with vertical take-off and landing aircraft. Joby’s aircraft operating in conjunction with Uber’s ride-hailing app could offer customers a seamless way to use ride-hailing services and air taxis in a single trip.
Main Image: Korea Tech Today
