Hyundai Motor Company is partnering with Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC), Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. and KT Corp. to accelerate the development of Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and work together to conduct test flights. With a memorandum of understanding signed on September 18, the four parties will work toward commercialising 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.

Hyundai will push forward developing the UAM business and securing business cases while IIAC will work to establish the infrastructure and study feasibility of utilising UAM as airport shuttles. Hyundai Construction will utilise 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.

"The breadth and depth of this partnership shows what it will take to build a comprehensive UAM ecosystem to serve megacities like Seoul," said Jaiwon Shin, Executive Vice President and Head of Urban Air Mobility Division at Hyundai Motor. "Building a robust infrastructure and business model is just as important as developing innovative UAM vehicles. This partnership demonstrates Hyundai's commitment to facilitating progress for humanity by ushering in a new era of urban air mobility that will revolutionise transportation."