SK Telecom and Joby Aviation mentioned cooperation for participation in Part 1 of the Ok-UAM Grand Problem
Korean provider SK Telecom and Joby Aviation, a U.S. city air mobility (UAM) firm had talks with the goal of strengthening their cooperation, Korean information service Enterprise Korea reported.
SK Telecom’s key executives, together with President Yoo Younger-sang,reportedly met with the highest officers of Joby Aviation, together with CEO JoeBen Bevirt and vice chairman Eric Allison, on the sidelines of the CES 2023 occasion, which befell in Las Vegas earlier this month.
In response to the report, SK Telecom and Joby Aviation mentioned cooperation for participation in Part 1 of the Ok-UAM Grand Problem, a UAM know-how demonstration challenge hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for the commercialization of UAM providers in South Korea.
The executives reportedly mentioned certification procedures required for bringing Joby Aviation’s plane into South Korea, numerous pilot challenge promotion plans to generate preliminary demand for UAM providers, and concepts for securing vertiport infrastructure early.
Joby Aviation is creating an electrical vertical takeoff and touchdown (eVTOL) plane that it intends to function as an air taxi service.
SK Telecom is already very energetic within the UAM house. Final yr, an city air mobility consortium led by SK Telecom and Hanwha Techniques had inked a partnership with the Jeju Particular Self-Governing Province with the goal of launching an air taxi pilot program, in keeping with native press stories.
The resort island of Jeju is one in every of South Korea’s foremost vacationer sights.
The Ok-UAM Dream Crew Consortium, comprised of SK Telecom, Hanwha Techniques, the Korea Airports Corp., the Korea Meteorological Institute and LX, a state-run land info supplier, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the goal of launching the business pilot challenge on Jeju Island in 2025.
Below the phrases of the settlement, the consortium will set up vertical take-off and touchdown ports and a visitors administration system to attach Jeju Worldwide Airport with main vacationer spots within the area.
The deal additionally stipulates that the Jeju provincial authorities will present websites for UAM operations and infrastructure and also will supply administrative assist to create a UAM ecosystem on the island.
SK Telecom, KAC and Hanwha Techniques have been working collectively for the event of this UAM initiative since 2021 and shaped the Ok-UAM Dream Crew consortium in April with the Korea Transport Institute and Korea Meteorological Institute.
For the pilot challenge on Jeju, SK Telecom will present the UAM service, which is being collectively developed with Joby Aviation. SK Telecom will even oversee the event and administration of the mobility platform service and community system.
KAC will set up take-off ports for the air taxis and monitor them within the air utilizing present flight security infrastructure.
In the meantime, Hanwha Techniques will assist develop, function, and handle the air taxi itself, together with serving to the consortium to develop navigation and management options.
In February 2022, SK Telecom had partnered Joby Aviation to determine an air taxi service in South Korea.
Different multi-company consortiums are additionally pursuing related initiatives in South Korea.
A consortium comprising LG Uplus, Kakao Mobility and GS Caltex beforehand signed an settlement with the Busan Metropolitan Metropolis to launch the same business UAM service.