The 'K-UAM Dream Team', comprised of SK Telecom, Korea Airports Corporation, Hanwha Systems, and T Map Mobility, successfully completed a comprehensive demonstration of Korean-style UAM (Urban Air Mobility) that will drastically change the transportation culture in the metropolitan area, and is on track to commercialize it in 2025.

SK Telecom (CEO Yoo Young-sang), together with Korea Airports Corporation (CEO Son Chang-wan), Hanwha Systems (CEO Eo Seong-cheol), Korea Transport Institute (President Oh Jae-hak), and T Map Mobility (CEO Lee Jong-ho), unveiled an operational model for commercializing UAM in the metropolitan area on the 11th.

SKT and its partner companies comprehensively demonstrated core capabilities related to services, infrastructure, aircraft, and research of UAM, also known as "air taxis," through the "Korean Urban Air Mobility (K-UAM) Airport Demonstration" hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport at Gimpo International Airport.

On this day, SKT stably connected the UAM pilot and ground control center, who circled the airspace outside Gimpo International Airport for about three minutes, through air and ground mobile communication networks. This demonstration is necessary to build an integrated system that can safely control UAM takeoff and landing at airports where aircraft operate, and an information sharing system that enables services such as allowing UAM users to use airport facilities and quickly and conveniently transfer to other means of transportation.

SKT also succeeded in controlling autonomous drones linked to the K-Drone System, demonstrating that ICT technology can be used to comprehensively manage everything from aircraft and UAMs using the airport to unmanned aerial vehicles.

Along with this, T Map Mobility unveiled a next-generation mobility platform that conveniently connects urban transportation with UAM. The demonstration site featured a VR experience where a transfer vehicle assigned to a passenger in a UAM arrived at the same time as the passenger's landing time.

T Map Mobility believes that fast and convenient reservation methods and a safe boarding process will determine the quality of UAM services, and plans to introduce an integrated mobility platform based on the capabilities accumulated through T Map and Wooti.

Korea Airports Corporation and Hanwha Systems, partners of the "K-UAM Dream Team" collaborating with SKT, also showcased their advanced technologies. Korea Airports Corporation conducted the first UAM airport demonstration in Korea and simultaneously implemented a UAM-aircraft integrated control system and a future vertiport utilizing a business aviation terminal. Hanwha Systems displayed a mock-up of its five-seater air mobility aircraft, "Butterfly," capable of safely and quickly flying at a maximum speed of 320 km/h.

UAM is an air mobility service based on electric-powered aircraft that is gaining attention as an eco-friendly means of transportation that can take off and land vertically in urban areas without a runway and can be connected to various ground transportation methods.

Accordingly, the government is accelerating the demonstration of an airport shuttle service in the metropolitan area with the goal of commercialization by 2025. The routes centered around Gimpo Airport will consist of T Map Mobility's app-based reservation and connected transportation boarding, and UAM operation and traffic management infrastructure utilizing SKT's airspace network communication technology.

As the UAM industry advances and operates in remotely controlled or autonomous modes, the construction and operation of air traffic communication networks will become increasingly important. SKT plans to continue to lead the way in communication technologies connecting the ground and the air, leveraging its stable network operation capabilities.

SK Telecom CEO Yoo Young-sang said, “Based on SKT’s advanced communications and digital infrastructure, we will play a key role in the development of the UAM industry, reducing social costs caused by traffic congestion and contributing to the establishment of eco-friendly transportation methods that do not emit greenhouse gases.”