Flying vehicles could land in Seoul by 2025

Industry

Published: 25 Sep. 2023, 16:47 Updated: 26 Sep. 2023, 18:57

Flying vehicles could land in Seoul by 2025

Ha Min-yong, chief development officer, SK Telecom, left, and Eric Allison, head of product at Joby Aviation, poses for a photo after signing a partnership agreement at SK Telecom's headquarters in Jung District, central Seoul, on Wednesday. [SK TELECOM]

In the not-too-distant future, flying vehicles may be spotted across the skies of Seoul — possibly by 2025.

Mobile carrier SK Telecom formed a partnership with Joby Aviation, a U.S. Urban Air Mobility (UAM) company last week to bring Joby's aircraft to Korea by next year and conduct test flights, with the aim to commercialize UAM in 2025.

The two companies signed an agreement last Wednesday, which took place at SK Telecom’s headquarters in Jung District, central Seoul, according to the telecommunication company on Sunday. Officials from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Korea Aerospace Research Institute and the Korea Institute of Aviation Safety Technology also participated in the signing ceremony to discuss related policies and the commercialization period for flying vehicles.

The partnership propels the two companies' participation at the K-UAM Grand Challenge, a UAM commercialization road map launched by the Land Ministry in February 2023 to conduct test flights on UAM and whether it can be deployed in an urban environment by 2025, with an aim to reduce street traffic and in line with global demand to popularize carbon-free vehicles.

SK Telecom, Joby, Korea Airports Corporation, Hanwha Systems and T Map Mobility are part of the initiative.

The mobile carrier secured a 2 percent stake in the transportation company through the $100 million investment in June, gaining the competitive edge in Korea’s UAM sector to exclusively utilize Joby’s electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft.

“To commercialize UAM, we need to secure aircraft supplies that were certified by global organizations such as Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Aviation Safety Agency,” SK Telecom spokesperson said.

SK Telecom CEO Ryu Young-sang poses for a photo in Joby Aviation's aircraft in California in January. [SK TELECOM]

“Joby Aviation already passed stages one and two of the five-step FAA clearance process for commercial flights and is close to passing stage three,” according to SK Telecom. The aviation company also rolled out its first eVTOL production prototype from its pilot manufacturing plant in California in June, which has been certified by the FAA and has begun flight testing.

Joby’s aircrafts will be brought in to Korea for test flights next year, which will take place at a site in Goheung, South Jeolla. Along with the case-by-case evaluation process, SK Telecom will also test communicative infrastructure constructed under SK Telecom’s LTE and 5G network, up to 300 meters to 600 meters in the air. Joby will dispatch a flight test team to Korea to support the testing.

SK Telecom’s push into the UAM sector is part of its efforts to expand its AI capabilities. The telecommunication company’s network infrastructure is crucial to achieving the business’s ultimate aim for self-driving air vehicles, and to integrate the services with ground traffic — which SK Telecom wants to become a market leader in the UAM ecosystem through AI.

“Through this collaboration agreement, we will work closely with Joby Aviation to bring the world’s most sophisticated aircraft to Korea and verify our capabilities for stable and safe UAM operations,” said Ha Min-yong, chief development officer, SK Telecom, in a statement. “Going forward, we will open an era of ‘AI Mobility’ by shifting the paradigm of mobility through the combination of UAM and AI.”

An urban air mobility aircraft is displayed at World Smart City Expo 2023 held at Kintex in Goyang, Gyeonggi, on Sept. 6. [YONHAP]

Other leading mobile carriers, KT and LG Uplus have jumped on the UAM bandwagon — forming their own teams to participate in the state-led UAM road map.

KT has formed partnerships with Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Korean Air Lines and Incheon Airport in November 2021. KT reported that it has completed construction and performance test of UAM-specific 5G air networks last October.

LG Uplus aligned with Britain’s Vertical Aerospace, Kakao Mobility, GS Caltex, and Jeju Air in May 2022. It also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Busan Metropolitan City in July 2022 to commercialize UAM services in Busan.

BY YU SUNG-KUK [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]