Atoms, an Industrial AI and Infrastructure company, and Joby Aviation, Inc., a company developing electric air taxis for commercial passenger service, have announced a strategic partnership to acquire and develop vertiport sites across the United States.
The companies will initially focus on Florida, New York and Texas, where Joby is preparing to launch early operations under the White House-backed eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), as well as California.
Joby’s aircraft is approaching commercial readiness. The company has flown its first FAA-conforming aircraft and entered the final stage of FAA type certification. Piloted flights across the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City have demonstrated its operational capabilities.
As air taxis progress from certification toward early operations, infrastructure will become increasingly important. Aircraft will require locations to land, charge and connect passengers with the rest of their journeys. The partnership will focus on developing this infrastructure rapidly and at scale in locations that can support electric air taxi operations.
Travis Kalanick, Founder and CEO of Atoms, said smart cities require innovative approaches to real estate and infrastructure development. He added that new transportation modes and smart city services will require a new asset class of infrastructure, with Atoms focused on efficient developments designed to serve cities, residents and communities.
Atoms Real Estate develops smart city infrastructure through in-house architecture, engineering, technology and construction teams. Under the partnership with Joby, Atoms will develop vertiports as next-generation transportation hubs where electric aircraft, autonomous ground vehicles and ridesharing services can converge.
The hubs are intended to support passenger connections, aircraft servicing and last-mile ground transportation.
JoeBen Bevirt, Founder and CEO of Joby Aviation, said thoughtful urban planning can take a decade or more and that integrating electric flight into everyday transportation will require a new generation of hubs connecting aircraft, ground transportation and communities.
Bevirt added that as Joby moves closer to early commercial service in the United States, infrastructure will become increasingly important, including not only where aircraft land and charge but also how cities integrate the new transportation mode. He described Atoms’ approach to combining technology, operations and customer experience as complementary to Joby’s requirements.
