The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is on the brink of implementing transformational rule changes designed to streamline the certification process for electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Among the principal beneficiaries stands Joby Aviation, a front-runner in the nascent urban air mobility sector. Historically, achieving FAA type certification for radically new aircraft designs has entailed multi-year timelines, extensive flight testing, and iterative negotiations over special conditions. The proposed updates promise to modernize airworthiness standards, codify acceptable means of compliance for electric propulsion, and embrace advanced simulation techniques—potentially shrinking certification schedules by up to two years. For Joby, which aims to launch commercial air taxi services as early as 2025, these regulatory reforms could mean the difference between pioneering urban eVTOL travel and watching competitors seize first-mover advantage.
Modernizing Part 23 for eVTOL Aircraft
The FAA’s Part 23 regulations, originally crafted for small, conventional airplanes, are outdated for electric-propulsion and distributed-thrust architectures. Under the proposed changes, Part 23 will be restructured to create an “eVTOL category” that consolidates scattered special conditions into a unified certification pathway. This new category will explicitly address electric-motor redundancy, battery-system integrity, thermal runaway mitigation, and control-system fail-safe modes. Rather than shoehorning eVTOL designs into rules meant for piston-engined aircraft, the updated regulation will define performance-based standards tailored to multicopter and tilt-propeller configurations. By doing so, Joby and its peers can focus on demonstrating compliance with clear, purpose-built criteria, eliminating protracted debates over interpreting legacy rules. The result is a certification framework that reflects modern aeronautical innovation while preserving the FAA’s uncompromising safety mandate.
Clarifying Acceptable Means of Compliance
A major source of delay in eVTOL certification has been uncertainty over acceptable means of compliance (AMCs). These non-binding guidance documents outline methods for meeting regulatory requirements but often lag behind technological advances. The FAA’s proposal includes updated AMCs that directly address eVTOL-specific topics: electric-propulsion system cybersecurity, battery overcurrent protection, and distributed-propulsion torque-imbalance scenarios. By publishing these AMCs in draft form for public comment and finalizing them swiftly, the FAA gives manufacturers a clear playbook for engineering analyses, ground tests, and flight demonstrations. Joby can thus avoid redundant special-condition requests and concentrate resources on executing test programs rather than re-justifying compliance strategies. This newfound clarity accelerates both design verification and regulator review cycles, smoothing the path to type certification.
Embracing Digital Validation and Simulation
Traditionally, certification relies heavily on hardware-in-the-loop tests and live flight trials. While indispensable, these methods are time-consuming and expensive. The FAA’s rule changes propose expanding the acceptance of validated digital-twin and simulation data for aerodynamic performance, structural dynamics, and system-failure analyses. Joby could leverage high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models to prove hover-performance margins and multicopter transition stability across environmental conditions, reserving flight hours for edge-case validation. Similarly, finite-element models of composite airframes can supplement physical fatigue testing, focusing on proving predicted stress-life curves. By integrating rigorous digital validation into the certification process, eVTOL developers can front-load a bulk of compliance demonstrations, drastically reducing the number of required flight-test points. The FAA’s embrace of simulation not only shortens certification timelines but also fosters innovation in modeling and software verification tools.
Streamlining Environmental and Noise Certification
Urban air mobility hinges on community acceptance, which in turn depends on low noise footprints and environmental compliance. The FAA’s reform package aligns noise-certification protocols with those of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), authorizing statistical noise-mapping techniques and fewer flight-test locations. By harmonizing global standards and accepting sound-power models for initial demonstrations, Joby can minimize repetitive acoustic flight campaigns. For environmental assessments—such as electric motor electromagnetic compatibility and battery-offgassing safety—the FAA proposes consolidated test requirements that reduce overlap between agencies. These streamlined procedures enable simultaneous submission of environmental and airworthiness data, compressing review schedules. Efficiently navigating noise and environmental certification not only expedites market entry but also supports Joby’s efforts to secure city partnership agreements, vertiport concessions, and sustainable operation permits.
Enhancing Safety Through Defined Failure-Mode Protocols
A critical concern for regulators is ensuring eVTOL aircraft can safely handle propulsion or system failures. The updated rules codify clear failure-mode protocols for electric-propulsion components—mandating that a single-motor loss in cruise or hover must not lead to unrecoverable descent. These criteria draw on rotorcraft fail-safe principles, requiring strategic redundancy and automated reversion to safe flight modes. Joby’s multicopter architecture, with tilting propellers, benefits from explicit loss-of-thrust requirements that define descent-rate limits and pilot-override mechanisms. By embedding these protocols in the regulation, the FAA reduces the need for custom special-condition negotiations over every possible failure scenario. Manufacturers can thus engineer their architectures to standardized safety thresholds, streamlining certification reviews and ensuring that all eVTOL designs meet consistent, rigorous safety baselines.
Building Collaborative Test and Data Sharing Ecosystems
Effective regulation modernization depends on close collaboration between the FAA, industry, and academic partners. The FAA plans to expand engagement through working groups that include eVTOL developers, component suppliers, and research institutions. These bodies will oversee validation of new simulation methods, refinement of AMCs, and harmonization of test data repositories. Joby Aviation, as an active participant, can contribute flight-test data and digital-twin results to shared databases, accelerating regulator confidence in emerging technologies. This collaborative ecosystem reduces certification risk by promoting transparency and shared learning across the sector. By pooling anonymized performance metrics and failure-data logs, stakeholders identify common challenges—such as motor-controller anomalies or electromagnetic interference—and swiftly develop countermeasures. Such a cooperative model enhances safety while accelerating certification for all participants.
Next Steps and Industry Outlook
The FAA intends to publish draft rule texts mid-2024, followed by a notice-and-comment period and final rule adoption late that year. Once finalized, eVTOL manufacturers—including Joby—must integrate the new requirements into their certification programs, likely submitting revised type-certification plans and updated compliance matrices. The agency also plans to train certification engineers on electric-propulsion systems, digital-validation techniques, and community-noise metrics to ensure consistent evaluations. If the rule changes take effect as scheduled, January 2025 could mark a watershed moment in accelerated eVTOL certification, setting a template for future advanced aircraft categories—such as hydrogen-fuel-cell platforms and autonomous rotorcraft. For Joby, whose commercial air taxi ambitions hinge on timely FAA approval, the reforms promise to unlock critical market windows. In the broader industry, the FAA’s modernization drive signals a regulatory willingness to evolve alongside technology, fostering an era where innovation and safety certification advance in tandem.
