Joby hails its air taxis as ‘game changer’ following NASA noise tests

Commercial air taxi manufacturer Joby Aviation says its pre-production aircraft has met the “revolutionary low” noise targets the company had set for itself during acoustic testing with NASA. As per preliminary results, the all-electric air taxis should barely be perceptible in urban environments.

NASA and Joby teamed up in September 2021 to measure the acoustic profile of Joby’s aircraft. The tests were conducted as part of NASA’s nationwide campaign to promote public confidence in Advanced Air Mobility (AAM). A lot of data was collected in this process. And now, the initial results from an analysis of that data are ready.

Joby’s air taxi prototype has registered the equivalent of 45.2 A-weighted decibels (dBA) from an altitude of 1,640 feet at 100 knots airspeed – a sound level the company believes will barely be perceptible against the ambient environment of cities.

Meanwhile, during takeoff and landing at a distance of 330 feet from the flight…