Air Taxis On The Verge

Flying taxis are here in 2025 and not going away.

This has the potential to remake the transportation tech industry in ways you have never seen.

There are a lot of moving parts, so it isn’t certain they will wipe out this company or that company.

One company that will have staying power is Uber, because they invested in the flying air taxi company called Joby Aviation.

Joby Aviation is marching toward launching its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxi service, potentially as early as late 202, marks a significant step in the evolution of urban air mobility (UAM).

This development could have notable implications for tech companies like Uber and Tesla, both of which operate in the broader mobility ecosystem.

While Joby’s air taxi service aligns closely with Uber’s ridesharing model and has direct ties to its platform, it also intersects with Tesla’s ambitions in autonomous transportation and sustainable mobility.

In 2020, Uber sold its air taxi division, Uber Elevate, to Joby and invested a total of $125 million in the company, integrating their services to enable seamless booking of air taxi rides through Uber’s app. Joby’s eVTOL service aligns with Uber’s vision of multimodal transportation, where users can combine ground and air travel for efficient urban mobility.

Joby’s service could enhance Uber’s business model by adding a premium offering, initially priced comparably to Uber Black (around $142–$170 for a trip like Manhattan to JFK). This could attract high-value customers, such as business travelers, willing to pay for time savings—Joby claims a seven-minute flight from Manhattan to JFK versus 30–60 minutes by car.

In the future, licensing Tesla’s full self-driving technology could become costly for companies like Uber, and they won’t have much control over the pricing.

Joby’s eVTOL service could be a way to increase margins that target higher net worth transportation. There is incredible value in a service like this in highly congested cities like Tokyo, London, and Hong Kong. 

If Tesla’s robotaxis achieve widespread deployment before Joby scales, they could capture market share in urban mobility, particularly for cost-conscious consumers. Conversely, Joby’s ability to bypass traffic congestion with short airport transfers could appeal to time-sensitive customers, potentially outpacing Tesla’s ground-based solutions.

Remember that air infrastructure hasn’t been built yet, and Tesla has a massive head start in its charging stations, and most people keep their EVs in their garages.

Regular consumers won’t be able to just stick an air taxi in their garage, leading to the question of where to park these air taxis. The solution won’t be cheap.

I don’t believe Joby will be for the masses, and Uber will need to take a hit to margins as self-driving technology, which they don’t own, becomes the norm.

Either way, transportation is about to change in ways we could have never imagined, and transport stocks will sink or swim.

I would be heavily weighted towards Tesla first and add Uber shares as a secondary pick.