Toyota and Joby Aviation create a joint venture to build air taxis, with Toyota taking a 51% stake

Toyota has agreed to form a joint venture with Joby Aviation focused on producing aircraft for the air-taxi market, according to a report published June 30, 2026. The deal, as described in the announcement coverage, is structured so that Toyota will hold a 51% stake in the new entity.

Under the terms cited, the joint venture will have exclusive rights to produce Joby Aviation’s S4 series aircraft. The S4 is Joby’s next-generation electric aircraft design for on-demand urban air mobility, intended to operate as a five-seat air taxi with the goal of delivering short, point-to-point trips under a certification and operating framework that will be developed over time.

The arrangement highlights how established automakers are looking beyond vehicle assembly and into aviation-adjacent manufacturing capabilities, particularly where electric propulsion and advanced electronics could resemble some parts of the auto supply chain. For Toyota, a majority stake implies control over key manufacturing decisions inside the venture, including how aircraft components are produced and assembled at scale.

Joby, for its part, appears to be using the partnership to address one of the biggest scaling questions for a new aviation OEM: how to transform prototypes into a repeatable production system. Aircraft production is not only about building planes, but also about setting up quality management, supplier qualification, and supply continuity for specialized components, all of which tend to be difficult in early deployment phases.

Air taxis are often discussed in terms of technology readiness, but manufacturing is a core gating factor for timelines. In the early years of any aircraft program, the engineering, certification, and production ramp tend to move at different speeds, and companies frequently adjust their sourcing and factory plans as regulatory pathways become clearer. A manufacturing-focused joint venture can also be a way to reduce execution risk by aligning capital, suppliers, and process design with a partner that has deep industrial experience.

Toyota’s role as an industrial sponsor matters because the automaker is already familiar with high-volume production, supplier networks, and process standardization. While Toyota’s core business is automobiles, the report’s description suggests it intends to leverage that operational know-how inside the aircraft venture by controlling production under an exclusive manufacturing arrangement for the S4 aircraft series.

The June 30 report did not provide additional deal mechanics in the details available here, such as the venture’s initial location, the planned production capacity, timelines for factory start-up, or how the parties will finance the effort beyond the ownership stake and exclusivity terms. It also did not specify whether Toyota’s exclusive rights are limited to specific models within the S4 series, certain jurisdictions, or defined time horizons, nor did it describe how Joby will supply aircraft systems or oversee engineering oversight after production begins.

What to watch next is whether Toyota and Joby disclose further specifics on the joint venture structure, including milestones tied to aircraft certification and delivery targets, as well as any updates on where production will occur and which suppliers will be involved. As air-taxi programs move from demonstration to scaled operations, the public details most likely to influence industry expectations will be production readiness, capacity ramp plans, and how certification requirements translate into factory and quality processes.