Joby flies at Expo 2025 world fair as it pursues public acceptance
One of Joby Aviation’s pre-production S-4 electric air taxis completed a public demonstration flight on Tuesday at the Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, the first of “more than 20” such flights Joby says it plans to conduct at the event.
According to Joby, the piloted flight was the first of its kind by an electric aircraft at a world fair. The basic flight plan for each demonstration consists of a vertical takeoff, a full transition to wing borne flight and a vertical landing.
These demonstrations are the latest illustration of the California company’s connections to Japan, which include having Tokyo-based Toyota as its biggest investor. The automaker has invested $644 million since 2017, with another $250 million pledged.
Japan’s island geography with densely populated cities has attracted the attention of the electric air taxi industry. Archer Aviation, also based in California, announced Monday that its four-passenger Midnight aircraft will be part of the first air taxi services in the city of Osaka. That rollout will be conducted by Soracle, which last year signed agreements to purchase up to 100 Midnights.
Both Joby and Archer noted in their news releases that Japan has long been a global pioneer in the adoption of advanced transportation systems, including high-speed rail. “Japan has led the world in transforming ground transportation with its world-class automotive industry and iconic bullet trains. Now, Japan is poised to lead the world again, this time in the air,” JoeBen Bevirt, Joby’s CEO and founder, said in the release.
For more about advanced air mobility, receive the True Mobility newsletter in your inbox.
In Osaka, Joby’s aircraft featured the official colors and logo of All Nippon Airways, Japan’s largest airline. Joby and ANA plan to develop a “national air taxi ecosystem” in Japan with “vertiports, pilot training programs and aircraft maintenance support,” according to Joby. The demonstration flights are designed to show the public “quiet all-electric flight technology.”
“The flights marked a key step in gaining public acceptance of air taxis and provided valuable data on airspace integration, which will be used in collaboration with the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) for development of regulatory pathways for advanced air mobility in the region,” Joby said in its news release.
The S-4 is built to carry a pilot and as many as four passengers at speeds of up to 320 kilometers per hour for a range of up to 160 km.
