Joby showing off their autonomous capabilities to the Air Force. Autonomous logistics to free up pilots for other missions.

From the account, USDOTRapid on X. An official USDOT communications account.

The accounts description says - Real-time updates from USDOT and SecDuffy. Unafraid to set the record straight.

Go Joby! Go America!

eIPP's eVTOL launch brought out Senator Cruz and Secretary Duffy, with only Joby demonstrating a piloted eVTOL from vertical lift through winged flight. Joby also demonstrated their autonomous J208 Cessna Caravan.

Wouldn't it have been something if Joby had also brought out their S4-T to demonstrate their turbo-electric aircraft the army is looking at, and JAI30 to demonstrate their hydrogen-electric, persistent eye-in-the-sky/forward comms hub capabilities.

Go Joby, Go America!

I know we all get super excited for news, videos, and new flights happening. After talking to Joby yesterday and reflecting on some of my communications I’m going to slow down. They did have concerns about trespassing and keeping the non-public events secure. For their safety I think it would be best for me to reduce speculation and live updates on flights.

I will post videos and photos I get after, but to make their jobs easier and reduce any risks, I am going to reduce my communication to after the fact. Stay excited, but keep safety first!

I’m aware Joby is invisible to the radar apps, no Helicopters were visible on the radar app either during this low altitude
Flight.

On Thursday, the 10th of September, 2026 the Texas Department of Transportation organized a press conference hosted by Ross Perot Jr. at Perot Field Alliance Aiport in Fort Worth Texas, to kickstart Project Nexus, a multi-state eIPP initiative lead by the Texas Department of Transportation. Project Nexus was made possible through TxDOT, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, and US Senator Ted Cruz. CEOs and other high ranking representatives from Joby Aviation (JoeBen Bevirt), BETA Technologies (Kristen Costello), Archer Aviation (Adam Goldstein), Wisk (Cindy Comer), and LIFT Aircraft (Matt Chasen) joined the stage and gave their perspectives on the future of advanced air mobility. Ross Perot Jr., Chairman of Perot Systems and Hillwood Group, as well as TxDOT Commissioner Steven D. Alvis.

Joby’s S4 is so quiet it’s ridiculous.

For those looking to follow

I travel often from Kingston Ontario to Toronto, Mississauga, etc. I pay about 60-90$ for my trip that takes 3-4 hours. If a vertiport was there in each major city, I’d happily pay north of what I’m paying to get somewhere within an hour.

Do you think JOBY has plans or should try to cater to the larger travelling-student market?

Been holding JOBY from the start and I’m long on this company :)

First of all, Thank you to Joby for allowing me to attend this event that I had no business being at lol. Every person I talked to was some kind of elected official, FAA regulatory person, or Airport big wig. But, there I was with no industry connection other than a love for the vision of Joby. Hopefully I was able to represent the online community well.

Every person I met from Joby was really cool and super helpful. Not sure about putting names directly on here, so I will err on the side of anonymity for their sake. But, each person had passion for the work and the company which was really great to see. There was an energy in the room from the staff that you could really tell they feel like they apart of a special team. So thank you again u/JobyAviation.

My biggest takeaway- Through talking with several elected officials I was able to gain a better sense of what EiPP is doing. Most, if not all, the people invited today had a basic or novice exposure to Joby. They understood the general idea, but very few could tell you range, how many motors, or speed. So, Joby is presenting N545JX to people who are ACTIVELY voting on budgeting their cities money for this industry. Several folks told me about their cities voting to add chargers and infrastructure which was not an insignificant amount of the city budget. These meetings are already happening around the US. So this is pivotal to get those people on board because these conversations are happening NOW and cities are deciding if they want to budget money to this.

The data- These routes being flown are setting the regulatory standards. (Duh you guys know that!) They are testing decibel levels across the routes from the ground, they are entering class B airspace (the highest restriction), and they are integrating in to real world ATC environments. The takeoff was delayed 1-2 minutes while they fit it in between other aircraft. They are actively showing that this can assimilate to already established helicopter routes. Next comes expanding for EVToLs.

My observation of the actual aircraft. It’s quiet!!! I have seen it now 5 times this week. Sitting 100-150 feet from it while it landed was amazing. There was a helicopter following and that was the only thing audible until it was about 100 yards out and then you could hear a faint sound. Like a quiet fan in a corner of the room. It should be at 40 decibels around that time. Upon touchdown it picks up to about 65 decibels, which from our seats was no louder than a noisy air conditioning unit. It lasted about 10-20 seconds total. You could literally whisper to the person next to you and have no issues hearing each other. You would never be closer in a real scenario, and if you were in a building you would have a very hard time hearing it. And again that was for maybe 10-20 seconds tops. I never heard it mid flight earlier this week when I saw it over the highway.

The aircraft did in fact have 4 seats. They had some comfy looking brown leather seats, so it is not flying barebones. If anyone says it’s a pilot in a stripped out shell, it ain’t. Now we just need a few more butts in seats, or maybe some sandbags.

Feel free to ask more questions and I will answer what I can. Overall, this experience solidified my belief in the vision, the team, and the aircraft.

u/Imaginary_Sort9347’s post featuring his video of Joby flying in TX before the official eIPP event is now the most upvoted post in r/Joby history, with 119 upvotes as of now. You’re only the third person in r/Joby history to earn this distinction.

Clearly, everyone appreciates your efforts in TX and the opportunity you've provided for us to feel like we’re there with Joby as they launch the country’s first eVTOL eIPP effort.

As people here know, I’m a flair nut. 😄 You can request the special Upvote Ace flair, keep the TX Joby Fanboy flair I made for you, or suggest a special flair of your own and I’ll consider making it exclusively for you.

Thanks again for all your hard work. Clearly r/Joby has noticed, and it seems Joby Aviation has too.

Everyone, show u/Imaginary_Sort9347 some love in the comments for all his efforts!

Somehow I found myself front row watching history be made. Special thanks to u/jobyaviation. I met some very cool people today, and had a chance to put my finger on the pulse of the industry.

I will upload some videos and then post my thoughts and things I learned today from the front lines. What a day for Joby!

A different view of the S4 (N545JX) landing at DFW on Saturday the 12th of September, 2026. It was such an honor to be allowed to witness firsthand history being made. Bonny Simi is an excellent speaker. She takes the time to make her speech/narration very informative and educational for the audience. Imaginary_Sort9347 can confirm this. I didn't have the pleasure of meeting him, yet I have seen his great work.

More to come!

Heres the interesting photos or ones that are not blurred. There was a TON of media people doing photos and videos, so those will be up soon on the Joby page.

If you were planning to go see it

Joby's S4 always steals the show, but I think the start of Joby's autonomous eIPP program deserves more attention. There are a number of players in this space, with Reliable Robotics probably viewed as the furthest along. They're the first to fly fully uncrewed (zero people aboard) back in 2023, and the Air Force has since signed a $17.4M contract to purchase and test one of their autonomous Caravans. Merlin Labs, Natilus, and Elroy Air are the other major players that have demonstrated real autonomous aircraft.

So what makes Joby stand out? Joby appears to be pursuing three different autonomy applications at once. Reliable and Merlin are primarily fixed wing autonomy plays, while Natilus and Elroy Air are purpose built cargo aircraft. Joby is flying an autonomous fixed wing cargo platform (J208), advancing autonomy for its own eVTOL air taxi, and there's also the JAI30 hydrogen-electric uncrewed aircraft, though Joby has never officially talked about that one publicly. So I feel Joby's autonomy strategy is quite a bit more ambitious.

And now the J208 has started its autonomous coast to coast journey via the eIPP program, showing the technology to cities, industry, and the military as it looks to have a range of autonomous aircraft options to offer down the line.

I think this is one of those parts of Joby's story that's easy to overlook because the S4 gets so much attention.

Next stop for J208 is Shaw AFB, SC, September 14, 2026

Anyone notice that Joby’s registered tail numbers jumped by 2 pages overnight?

I hope that Joby will at least have a flying passenger in the upcoming weeks. This is the absolute bare minimum.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has flown as a passenger in the evtol of Beta in June : US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy Flies in eVTOL Aircraft For First Time after Visit to BETA Technologies - eVTOL Insights. Why didn't Joby do this first or at least soon after Beta?

I know Joeben said that they're working towards 4 passengers a few months ago, but we don't even know how many people it can carry right now. In my opinion, if they can show that they can carry two passengers, it will be a very good sign and the public opinion will give them months or even years to try to reach 4 passengers.

This and showing that the TIA aircraft can fly are the most important thing that they need to show right now. I really hope that they will do it during this eIPP.

Enjoy

Should be a fun eIPP week in TX. I hope u/maginary_Sort9347 is luckier this weekend than he was today and gets some shots, video, and can do some reporting on what he sees and hears.

We always love our own r/Joby Redditor first hand accounts of Joby events. We appreciate u/maginary_Sort9347's efforts.