Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong will work with SKT and US-based Joby Aviation to secure global competitiveness in urban air mobility (UAM).

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong announced on the 10th that he visited UAM airframe manufacturer Joby Aviation in San Jose, USA, and discussed ‘Korea-US corporate cooperation plans’ for the commercialization of UAM in Korea by 2025 with CEO JoeBen Bevirt and SK Telecom CEO Yoo Young-sang.

SKT and Joby signed a business agreement in February to fully cooperate across all areas, including aircraft and service platforms (MaaS, Mobility as a Service).

Joby holds the longest flight record for an eVTOL (vertical takeoff and landing aircraft) used in UAM, and the UAM aircraft (S4) currently under development is expected to be the world's first to be commercialized after receiving aircraft certification from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

SK On Battery will be used here and we plan to participate in the domestic verification project starting this year.am. Phase 1 will run from August 23 to December 24, with demonstrations in urban areas starting in June 24.

On this day, Minister Won reportedly listened to an explanation about Joby's aircraft development and certification progress and SKT's service platform provision plan, and asked them to make every effort to ensure prompt commercialization.

Minister Won said, “It is important to create an environment where capable private companies such as SKT and Joby can freely test-flight UAM,” and “We will push forward without a hitch the enactment of laws and demonstration projects for bold regulatory exceptions to ensure that regulations do not become obstacles to new industries.”

Minister Won said, “If our country’s excellent battery and service platform technology and the U.S.’s cutting-edge UAM airframe manufacturing technology combine, we will be able to achieve commercialization by 25 years without difficulty,” and added, “We plan to further strengthen cooperation between the governments of Korea and the U.S. so that the cooperation case between SKT and Joby can become a global example.”

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport attended CES held in Las Vegas on the 8th and signed a declaration to strengthen cooperation with the US FAA in various fields such as UAM certification, licensing, and operation-related matters.

Minister Won emphasized, “In order to secure the global competitiveness of UAM for our country’s companies, it is important to actively participate in the process of establishing international standards that can be used anywhere in the world,” and “We will do our best to take follow-up measures to make the business agreement signed between the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and NASA, which are leading the verification tests in both countries, and the cooperation declaration signed with the FAA this time into tangible results.”

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said last On December 21, 'UAM Team Korea (UTK)' was held, and the 'K-UAM (Korean Urban Air Mobility) Demonstration Project (Grand Challenge)' is being actively promoted to realize the commercialization of urban air mobility (UAM) by 25 years. Domestic companies, including the three telecommunication companies, have formed consortiums and are leading the global UAM business through research and development of related UAM technologies such as devices, traffic management, and vertiports.