Drone taxis could appear above Seoul by 2025

A drone taxi makes a demonstration flight at the Yeouido Hangang Park in western Seoul in Nov. 2020. [YONHAP]

Drone taxis may be flying around Korea as early as 2025, with the Gimpo-Yeouido and Jamsil-Suseo air routes to be the first to see the aerial vehicles.

The city of Seoul and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will announce a demonstration operation plan for the urban air mobility (UAM) project around mid-May, the metropolitan government announced Wednesday. The plan will lay out practical steps for the “K-UAM Grand Challenge” project that seeks to use small aircraft for future public transportation.

The city and the ministry have a two-step private-public joint demonstration project scheduled prior to commercializing the UAM service in 2025.

The first round of demonstrations will be held at the Korea Institute of Aviation Safety Technology in Goheung, South Jeolla from this August to December next year. The second round will begin in July next year, starting with routes in Incheon and Gyeonggi and phasing into routes in Seoul.

Through the demonstrations, authorities will test the stability of the aircraft’s frame and the interoperability of the UAM ecosystem, including traffic control and vertiport management.

The air route between Gimpo International Airport and Yeouido, along with the route between the southern Seoul regions of Suseo and Jamsil, will be the first to operate the UAM.

A one-way, 12-kilometer (7.5 miles) trip between Gimpo and Yeouido will last about three minutes.

The metropolitan government will also announce a commercialization plan which involves UAM and vertiport installation goals in the second half of the year. Vertiports will first be set up in open lots such as Hangang Park and then installed in urban areas.

“The plan is to commercialize the UAM as a means of transportation,” said an official of the Seoul city government. People may be able to ride the UAM aircraft from the pilot operation phase, but not during the demonstration period, the official added.

BY BAE JAE-SUNG [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]