The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Seoul Metropolitan Government will launch a UAM demonstration project in Yeouido.
The Chinese eVTOL 'EH216' aircraft flew 1.8 km for 7 minutes.
Seoul plans to use UAM for firefighting purposes starting in 2023.


The commercialization of drone taxis is being promoted with the goal of 2025.

On the 11th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Seoul Metropolitan Government jointly hosted an Urban Air Mobility (UAM) demonstration event in Yeouido, Seoul, featuring drone delivery and taxi services. UAM has recently been attracting attention as an alternative to addressing ground traffic congestion in metropolitan areas.

Currently, major countries around the world are accelerating the development of electric Vertical Take-off & Landing (eVTOL) aircraft for UAM. Based on eco-friendly electric power, low-noise, safe, distributed propulsion, and vertical take-off and landing technologies, eVTOLs are expected to enter commercial service in the US and Europe between 2023 and 2025.

Unlike the existing aviation industry, UAM is a sector where technical standards and other factors have not yet been established. Therefore, at the 2nd Innovation Growth Strategy Meeting held in June, the government finalized and announced the "Korean Urban Air Mobility (K-UAM) Roadmap," which includes the goal of commercializing drone taxis by 2025.

According to the roadmap, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will promote the commercialization of drone taxis in four stages. △After a preparation period from 2020 to 2024, △some commercial services will be introduced from 2025 to 2029, △routes will be expanded and central hubs will be established from 2030 to 2035, and △on-call autonomous flight services will be implemented after 2035.

This demonstration is a follow-up to that roadmap.

The demonstration, held at Yeouido Hangang Park, centered around a talk show on topics such as the future and challenges of UAM. During the talk show, six drones controlled by the K-Drone System completed the demonstration by delivering commemorative items, conducting traffic surveys, and conducting land surveys.

In addition to delivery drones, many domestic and international taxi drone development units also participated in the demonstration.

Hyundai Motor Company and Hanwha Systems each displayed mockups of aircraft currently under development for mass production within the venue. Scattered around the venue were Korean Air's TR-60 vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) featuring tiltrotating technology, four scale models of winning designs from the Gyeongnam Personal Aerial Vehicle (PAV) Technology Competition held last October, and the PAV-1, currently under development by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).

Among foreign companies, a two-seat aircraft (EH216) from China's Ehang participated in the demonstration. Carrying four 20kg rice sacks instead of passengers, the EH216 flew two laps for approximately seven minutes, at an altitude of approximately 50 meters, covering a distance of 1.8 kilometers, over the Hangang Park, Seogang Bridge, Bamseom Island, and Mapo Bridge. The aircraft from the US company Lift Aircraft was not tested due to a last-minute defect, and a European company was reportedly unable to participate due to COVID-19.

In addition to this demonstration, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is also promoting a demonstration project for UAM (K-UAM Grand Challenge, 2022-24), establishing standards for 'vertiports', which are eVTOL takeoff and landing pads, and conducting research on worker qualifications.

Son Myung-soo, Second Vice Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, who attended the event that day, said, “We will smoothly implement the initiatives outlined in the roadmap for commercialization by 2025 through collaboration between industry, academia, and research institutes,” and “We plan to quickly establish a reasonable system to support the fostering of domestic industries.”

Meanwhile, the Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to use UAM as a firefighting aircraft as early as 2023.