Archer and Joby are battling to get ahead in the race to make air taxis a reality

Two California companies at the forefront of the global race to bring battery-powered air taxis to the public are trying to trip each other up in court.

Although Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation are based less than an hour apart in Northern California, they are bitter rivals, each hoping that their own small electric vertical takeoff and landing plane will dominate the skies like Ubers ferrying people over cities.

Over the past year, the companies have been embroiled in a mix of lawsuits and countersuits, attacking each other’s products and progress.

Archer says Joby hides his reliance on money and parts from China. Joby alleges that Archer stole his technology.

Eric Lentell, Archer’s chief legal and strategy officer, said the company was “not at all concerned” by the accusations of industrial espionage.

At stake is first-mover advantage in an electric air taxi market that could eventually include autonomous planes. Morgan Stanley has predicted that the industry could be worth $1.5 trillion by 2040.

“It’s completely normal for companies to jump into this tit-for-tat game, especially in a new industry,” said Sergio Cecutta, co-founder of aerospace consulting firm SMG Consulting and creator of the Advanced Air Mobility Reality Index.

Archer, based in San Jose, and Joby, based in Santa Cruz, both plan to offer a commercial air taxi service using electric vertical takeoff and landing, or eVTOL, aircraft. The planes of both companies are designed for one pilot and four passengers.

These companies are among the survivors in the quest to disrupt aviation with new plane designs, electricity and AI. Even as pioneers, they have all taken a hit this year, fearing they will take too long and require too much investment, even as new challengers emerge from China and elsewhere.

Shares of both companies have fallen more than 20% this year. Joby’s market value of more than $8.5 billion is nearly double that of Archer.

They tried to direct investors’ attention to the future.

Joby may launch commercial air taxis in the UAE next year. Archer recently spent more than $100 million to take over the Hawthorne Municipal Airport. The goal is to operate in Los Angeles in time for the 2028 Olympics.

Meanwhile, the two companies are trying to snipe each other in court.

Joby filed a lawsuit in November, alleging industrial espionage against Archer and George Kivork, a former Joby employee who left to work for Archer. It accuses Kivork of stealing technical information and stakeholder communications from Joby and providing them to its competitor.

“As a result of his position at Joby, Kivork had access to confidential and proprietary information,” the complaint states. “Archer brazenly used this stolen information.”

Archer and Kivork filed motions to dismiss the claims in January.

In March, Archer filed a lawsuit accusing Joby of defrauding the government by concealing close ties to China and misclassifying aircraft parts of Chinese origin.

Last month, in response to a complaint filed on behalf of Archer, the International Trade Commission opened an investigation into Joby and its dealings with China to determine whether the company violated tariff or patent law. The results of that investigation could affect Joby’s entry into the U.S. market, Cecutta said.

Joby filed to dismiss the lawsuit in April, claiming in court documents that “Joby has disclosed its China-based subsidiary in every annual report filed with the SEC since Joby went public.”

In Archer’s motion to dismiss the industrial espionage charges against Kivork and the company, Archer wrote that Kivork “decided to take a job with Joby’s most innovative competitor” and that the charges were “an anti-competitive strategy by Joby to slow down a more successful competitor.”

In Joby’s motion to dismiss Archer’s counterclaims a few months later, Joby wrote that Archer was “attempting to take over the narrative” and that his claims “do not deny that Joby is ahead.”

Joby’s court filing said Archer’s complaint was “long on innuendo, but short on factual allegations supporting recognizable legal theories.”

According to Cecutta, Joby is ahead in the race.

“Archer is one to two years behind Joby when it comes to aircraft development,” Cecutta said. “We believe Joby can have its planes certified by the FAA for passenger transport by 2028, while Archer at the Olympics is unlikely to happen.”

Joby makes about one plane a month and is working on the production version that will go through the Federal Aviation Administration’s certification process, Cecutta said. So far, it has produced around nine aircraft. Archer is still working on pre-production models, he said, meaning it is not yet making the aircraft that will be used for commercial service.

Archer said it is the only air taxi company to have completed the third step of the FAA’s four-step type certification process for eVTOLs. Type certification is the approval of the aircraft design and precedes production certification.

Archer’s Lentell thinks the two companies are about even in their progress.

“I would expect both of us to start flying with FAA pilots on the plane next year,” he said in an interview. “I definitely think we’re neck and neck.”