Hyundai Motor plans to accelerate the development of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and conduct flights tests. For this the company is partnering with Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC), Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. and KT Corp.
The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding signed on September 18, under which the four parties will work toward commercializing UAM by 2028.
In June 2020, the Korean government announced the Korean UAM Roadmap, outlining steps needed to commercialize UAM. Hyundai Motor and its partners will align with the roadmap that includes the Korean UAM Grand Challenge, the public-private joint demonstration project that provides the basis for jointly studying the construction and operation of vertiports, airports for UAMs.
Roles of each company
- Hyundai will push forward developing the UAM business and securing business cases while
- IIAC will work to establish the infrastructure and study feasibility of utilizing UAM as airport shuttles.
- Hyundai Construction will utilize its expertise to build vertiports as well as the transit hub that will connect UAM to other public transportations.
- KT will set up the communications infrastructure and make business cases for UAM as a mobility service.
All four parties will be sharing necessary information during the development as well as jointly working on test flights.
Hyundai is also the first automotive manufacturer to sign on to Uber’s urban air mobility (UAM) vision, bringing with it an established track record of mass producing electric vehicles.At CES 2020, Hyundai unveiled its innovative vision for urban mobility and its first concept Urban Air Mobility vehicle equipped with eVTOL.
