Ex-Uber founder and CEO Travis Kalanick is back in the ride-hail business — but this time in the skies.
Air taxi maker Joby Aviation (JOBY) on Monday announced a strategic partnership with Atoms, the industrial AI and infrastructure company founded by Kalanick, to acquire and develop a network of "vertiports," or heliports for air taxis, across the US as Joby nears its commercial service launch.
The partnership will initially target Florida, New York, and Texas, where Joby is preparing to launch early operations under the White House-backed eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP), as well as California.
Joby stock rose on the news.
Atoms Real Estate will design and build the sites as "multimodal transportation hubs" where electric aircraft, autonomous ground vehicles, and ridesharing converge, anchored by on-site power for charging and operations.
For Kalanick, a pioneer in the logistics and demand-matching space, the deal made sense. "Smart cities require innovative real estate and infrastructure development," Kalanick, who co-founded Uber (UBER) and led the ride-hailing giant until his 2017 ouster, said in a statement. "As new transport modes and smart city services become available, designing and deploying a new asset class to support them is critical."
Joby founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt called Atoms "a natural partner," given its vision for "ambitious infrastructure projects that combine technology, operations, and customer experience."
The deal brings Kalanick back to an industry he transformed. After leaving Uber, he built Atoms into a holding company spanning food, mining, and transportation, with businesses including CloudKitchens, Otter, Picnic, Lab37, ProFood, and Pronto.
Signing a deal for land-based operations is the next step for Joby. The company flew its first FAA-conforming aircraft and entered the final stage of FAA type certification, with piloted flights in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City.
Last month, the company finalized a deal with Virgin Atlantic to bring air taxi service to the UK, with Virgin serving as its exclusive airline partner there.
Joby also counts Delta Air Lines (DAL) as a partner and investor, as well as Toyota (TM) for manufacturing, and Kalanick's former company Uber for integrating air taxis on Uber's platform.
Pras Subramanian is Lead Auto Reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on* X** and on** Instagram**.*
Click here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance