Two California companies are joining forces to move cities a step closer to the day people can whiz across neighborhoods in electric air taxis.
Joby Aviation, an air taxi maker based in the seaside town of Santa Cruz, has struck a deal with Metropolis Technologies, a Los Angeles-based parking technology startup. The duo plan on repurposing 25 parking lots across the country into vertiports, or stations where electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOLs, can land, recharge and take off.
The deal is the latest that aims to turn the stuff of science fiction and 1960s cartoon shows like "The Jetsons" into reality.
Metropolis uses artificial technology and other gear to identify vehicles so drivers can enter and exit its parking lots without pulling tickets or swiping credit cards. Metropolis operates the largest parking network in the United States, with more than 4,200 locations across the country.
The companies said they plan to leverage Metropolis' AI tech to accelerate Joby’s efforts to integrate its air taxi service directly into ground transportation hubs and deploy vertiport designs that satisfy safety and regulatory standards. Vertiports must have Federal Aviation Administration-approved flight paths, access that’s compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and up to 4,000 amps of clean electrical power.
“For air taxis to deliver on their promise of seamless urban travel, they must connect directly with the existing ground transportation ecosystem,” JoeBen Bevirt, Joby's chief executive and founder, said in a statement. “By leveraging existing parking infrastructure to create mobility hubs, we can deliver on our vision of seamless connectivity for our customers and also maximize the value of those sites without needing to build infrastructure from scratch.”
Joby isn't the only air taxi operator investing in real estate. Archer Aviation this fall struck a $126 million deal to buy an airport in the Los Angeles area, marking one of the biggest real estate bets by a company in the emerging industry.
Other players including VertiPorts by Atlantic and Skyports are leasing rooftops and small parcels for future air taxi landing sites.
“The era of advanced aviation has arrived — not as a distant vision, but as a tangible reality,” said a statement from Adam Goldstein, Archer’s founder and chief executive. “The time to seize this transformative opportunity is now.”
Early adopters
Joby and Metropolis said they plan to install vertiports at new and existing parking builds from Metropolis’ network of parking locations where it provides checkout-free services using machine learning and computer vision.
“We are taking the data and recognition capabilities we've built in our network and extending it to air travel," Metropolis Chief Executive Alex Israel said in a statement.
Joby said its vertiports will be “strategically selected” among cities that were early adopters of electric air taxis. In the U.S., that means New York, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco.
The Persian Gulf has long pitched itself as a world hub for flying car development and testing, with Joby planning to launch commercial air taxi service in 2026 in Dubai. The firm recently unveiled a $1 billion deal in which the government of Saudi Arabia agreed to provide some 200 aircraft and other undisclosed services.
Toyota-backed Joby is also ramping up operations in the United States. It recently announced it would double its manufacturing of eVTOL aircraft from two to four per month in 2027.
Companies such as Joby are riding the momentum from the Trump administration’s “Unleashing American Drone Dominance” executive order, signed in June, which is supposed to fast-track the testing of air taxis in select American cities. The administration is seeking to bolster U.S. companies as they compete for dominance in the burgeoning air taxi sector, with an eye toward showcasing the technology at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
With its infamously gridlocked freeways, LA is under pressure to expand its transit options, and the global spotlight could provide the ideal platform for an emerging technology.
Companies such as Archer Aviation, BETA Technologies and Joby are developing battery-powered aircraft that take off and land vertically. Wisk, a Boeing subsidiary, is working on a version that can operate without a pilot.
Joby has two manufacturing and flight test facilities south of San Francisco, in Marina and San Carlos. Over the summer, the company put the final touches on its primary manufacturing facility in Marina. In October, the company announced it had begun making propeller blades at a facility in the Wright brothers' hometown of Dayton, Ohio, marking a milestone ahead of the company's launch of commercial flying taxi service.