Joby Aviation becomes partner of San Jose Sharks Sports & Entertainment, To Explore Vertiport Development in Area Surrounding SAP Center

Joby Avi­a­tion has become a part­ner of Nation­al Hock­ey League (NHL) team San Jose Sharks, which will see the com­pa­ny explore ver­ti­port devel­op­ment as part as the fran­chise’s ren­o­va­tion of the city’s SAP Cen­ter.

The Reimag­i­na­tion Stu­dio is a show­room and dig­i­tal expe­ri­ence launched by Joby and San Jose Shark’s own­ers, Sharks Sports and Enter­tain­ment (SSE), which will rethink how fans arrive, gath­er, move and con­nect.

As part of the col­lab­o­ra­tion, Sharks Sports & Enter­tain­ment will work exclu­sive­ly with Joby Avi­a­tion to explore ver­ti­port devel­op­ment in the area sur­round­ing SAP Cen­ter. It is work­ing to trans­form 60-minute crawls in traf­fic, to 10-minute elec­tric air taxi flights.

Jonathan Bech­er, Pres­i­dent, Sharks Sports & Enter­tain­ment, said: “With a project like the SAP Cen­ter reimag­i­na­tion, the ten­den­cy would be to think only of expe­ri­ences with­in the are­na. But we’re look­ing at every facet of the guest expe­ri­ence includ­ing how they get to and from the venue. Part­ner­ing with a world-class trans­porta­tion com­pa­ny like Joby enables us to deliv­er on that reimag­i­na­tion promise.”

Each lev­el of the are­na will have its own atmos­phere, func­tion, and inten­si­ty. From the vibrant, social ener­gy of the main lev­el to the immer­sive envi­ron­ments below, this lay­ered expe­ri­ence enhances each guest’s jour­ney and anchors the are­na as a civic land­mark in San Jose.

“At Joby, we focus on tech­nol­o­gy that mean­ing­ful­ly improves every­day life,” said Stephan Bar­al, Head of Cor­po­rate Devel­op­ment at Joby Avi­a­tion. “Inte­grat­ing elec­tric air taxis into the devel­op­ment of the enter­tain­ment dis­trict near SAP Cen­ter could turn a 60-minute jour­ney to a Sharks game, con­cert, or fam­i­ly show into a ten-minute trip. This part­ner­ship shows how clean­er, faster urban trans­porta­tion will work in the real world, at scale.”