UAM is a futuristic air taxi that carries passengers or cargo by combining electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) personal aircraft (PAVs). Morgan Stanley, an American investment bank, forecasts that the global UAM market will grow to $1.5 trillion (approximately 1,816 trillion won) by 2040.

LG Uplus and Seoul Metro are joining forces to construct vertiports to be used as platforms for UAM (Urban Air Mobility).

LG Uplus and Seoul Metro announced on the 15th that they have signed a business agreement to cooperate on the establishment of UAM transfer centers and the early commercialization of UAM. The signing ceremony, held at the Seoul Metro headquarters, was attended by LG Uplus CEO Hwang Hyun-sik and CTO Lee Sang-yup, as well as Seoul Metro CEO Kim Sang-beom and Technology Division Head Kim Seong-ryeol.

Both companies announced that through this business agreement, they will build a UAM complex transfer center utilizing subway transportation infrastructure and cooperate for the early commercialization of UAM.

Seoul Metro will support administrative matters, such as regulations for the introduction of complex transfer centers, and vertiport infrastructure, while LG Uplus will develop a traffic management system for route operations and demonstrate UAM-related communication technologies.

Both companies are devising plans to introduce the system primarily at subway stations with high passenger traffic, such as Samsung Station, Suseo Station, and Guro Digital Complex, which handle subways, GTX, and buses. Currently, Seoul Metropolitan Transit Corporation operates 275 stations on subway lines 1 through 8.

We investigate the flight environment, including demonstrations, UAM feasibility, technological safety, and local resident acceptance, and simultaneously conduct preliminary research on environmental factors such as weather conditions along flight paths and flight obstacles.

Meanwhile, LG Uplus formed a consortium with Kakao Mobility and GS E&C in May last year and is participating in the 'K-UAM Grand Challenge' demonstration project hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. In July, it also signed an MOU with Busan City to establish a UAM ecosystem.

LG Uplus plans to develop a UAM traffic management system and apply it to government demonstration projects, and will explore ways to further enhance the system to accelerate the commercialization of UAM.

Jeon Young-seo, Head of the Enterprise Service Development Lab at LG Uplus, stated, “We expect cooperation with the Seoul Metropolitan Transit Corporation to play a crucial role in successfully carrying out government-led UAM demonstration projects and establishing an initial market,” adding, “We will continue to cooperate with consortium participants to build safe and easy-to-use future transportation infrastructure.”