Hyundai starts air taxi traffic with Supernal

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Hyundai starts air taxi traffic with Supernal-hyundai

The car company Hyundai Motor Group has presented a new company called Supernal. The focus is on the further development of the Urban Air Mobility business area, with which the group wants to advance its vision of future mobility in the urban environment. The company plans to develop several electric aircraft to bring together public and private stakeholders in an Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) industry.

The first commercial flight is scheduled for 2028. Already in the following years, operations are to be started on a larger scale, since the aviation market is forecast to grow strongly and its public acceptance to increase in the 2030s.

“We want to change the way people and society move, connect and live by adding a new dimension to mobility. We have ambitious goals at Supernal. However, being the first to market is not one of them. Instead, we are initially willing to develop the right product for the overall market. To do this, we will draw on the manufacturing know-how of the Hyundai Motor Group to make AAM accessible to the masses.- Jaiwon Shin, Chief Executive Officer of Supernal and President of Hyundai Motor Group

Supernal is one of more than 50 pioneering companies in Hyundai Motor Group’s network resulting from the group’s strategic transformation from car manufacturer to provider of intelligent mobility solutions. The company is working to integrate urban air mobility into existing transport networks and enable seamless intermodal passenger transport. In the future, passengers will plan their journey with an app – similar to current ride-sharing platforms – and thus first travel by car or train from home to an urban airport (vertiport), then with an electric vertical take-off aircraft (eVTOL – electric vertical takeoff and landing) across the city and finally be able to cover the last mile with an e-scooter.

Development and commercialization of a new mobility solution

Supernal, the Urban Air Mobility division of Hyundai Motor Group, was previously unveiled at CES 2020, where it unveiled its first concept vehicle, the S-A1 air taxi, to the public. The company aims to develop and improve the eVTOL vehicle and plans to have it certified by US regulators in 2024. Supernal’s first aircraft will be electrically powered and will initially be able to transport four to five passengers fully autonomously in urban areas and near cities.

“We develop a commercially viable Advanced Air Mobility solution from the ground up by designing and manufacturing our vehicle to the highest safety, noise, efficiency and affordability standards. Our growing team of experts from aerospace, automotive and other high-tech industries develops sustainable vehicles that have the potential to transform the way we live and work.- Ben Diachun, Chief Technology Officer at Supernal

The company says it uses advanced airframe technologies, systems and materials – including artificial intelligence, autonomous controls and electric propulsion – to develop its vehicles and intends to leverage the group’s mass production capabilities to keep production costs down. Supernal is also building partnerships with educational institutions to advance research into an AAM industry and nurture talent.

Development and integration of a new mobility market

In parallel with the development of electric aircraft, Supernal focuses on an aerospace industry and supporting ecosystem. To this end, the company cooperates with a wide range of stakeholders, including public and private institutions, other mobility providers, universities and start-ups, to overcome the challenges of market entry, promote public acceptance and ensure that AAM is economically profitable and environmentally sustainable.

“As an innovator in the industry, we have a responsibility to ensure that AAM fits into and complements the existing transport network while effectively meeting local needs. The development of the market – from the vehicle to infrastructure as well as public acceptance – requires thought-out and strategic coordination. Everything must be matched to each other so that AAM can develop his full potential.”- Jaikwon Shin, Chief Executive Officer by Supernal and President of the Hyundai Motor Group

With this goal, among other things, the company forges partnerships at local and government level in the United States. For example, last year Supernal partnered with the City of Los Angeles and Urban Movement Labs to develop a roadmap that other cities and communities can use as a basis for their aviation efforts and schedules. Supernal also serves as an industry resource for policymakers interested in how AAM can meet the transportation needs of their communities.

On a national and international level, Supernal works with stakeholders to explore concepts for physical and digital infrastructure. Since last year, Supernal has been collaborating with Urban-Air Port, which was selected by the UK government as the winner of the Future Flight Challenge, to research a new, multifunctional and scalable air transport infrastructure. Next year, the company will unveil a full-scale prototype of a full-scale takeoff and landing infrastructure for eVTOL, also known as a vertiport, in the UK.

Furthermore, Supernal supports the CAAM (Canadian Advanced Air Mobility Consortium) in expanding the AAM in Canada. In addition, the company recently announced the expansion of its airspace management consortium, which is preparing an operational concept to be presented to policy makers.

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3 thoughts on “Hyundai starts air taxi traffic with Supernal”

  1. What beautiful future plans. People live in megacities and the continuous vanity on the streets deviate the high earners to the use of air taxis, which sometime of course also the airspace a little full of designed ..

    Of course, home office or video conferencing does not go, the future is called mobility. Everyone always has to be somewhere else to betray some growth &# 128521;

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  2. I do not have the slightest problem with the helicopter with internal combustion engine on electro. But in the development of new traffic concepts, this does not help us at all.

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  3. Both, the cities, the life in the country, the transport, yes the entire furniture are completely different than today. The people who could not part with the horse in the past were left behind, those who later could not imagine the parting from the steam engine and now the parting of the car as a means of long-distance travel comes. Anyone who still thinks that e-mobiles have a longer future has the same problem as it did with horses. Innovative corporations such as HYUNDAI, TOYOTA and CO have long been able to plan and build the future and cannot get by with just a few battery-powered vehicles.

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