黑料吃瓜

A California air taxi startup has just pulled in $590 million in a new round of funding, with automaker as the lead investor.

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Santa Cruz鈥檚 makes electric aircrafts that can travel up to 200 miles per hour and more than 150 miles on a single charge–and does it quietly. The company says its plane is 100 times quieter than a traditional plane and is 鈥渘ear-silent in flyover.鈥�

The round brings Joby鈥檚 total funding to . The company raised its $30 million,,聽 led by , in December 2016. It also raised $100 million in a round led by in January 2019.

Other Joby investors include and .

The new round of funding is also a mark of automaker Toyota鈥檚 bet on air transportation. The company has invested in car-centric startups, including rideshare companies and, and autonomous vehicle startup

“Air transportation has been a long-term goal for Toyota, and while we continue our work in the automobile business, this agreement sets our sights to the sky,” Toyota President and CEO Akio Toyoda said in a statement. “As we take up the challenge of air transportation together with Joby, an innovator in the emerging eVTOL space, we tap the potential to revolutionize future transportation and life.鈥�

Toyota will bring its knowledge of manufacturing, quality and cost controls for the development and production of Joby鈥檚 aircraft, Joby said in a statement. Moving more transit to air would reduce congestion on roads and make transit faster.

Joby planes will have per-trip passenger pricing, but eventually those prices should come down to nearly the cost of ground transportation, the company said.

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