Large-Scale Urban Air Mobility Demonstration Begins... Full-Scale Promotion of Korean-Style 'Grand Challenge'

Phase 1 Demonstration at National Comprehensive Flight Performance Test Site in 2023
Phase 2 Demonstration for First Commercial Route Expected in 2025

The large-scale demonstration project for the commercialization of Urban Air Mobility (UAM), called the 'Grand Challenge,' is being actively promoted.

On the 28th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport held the '3rd Main Council of UAM Team Korea,' with participation from 37 organizations in the UAM sector, online and approved the operational plan for the 'Korean-style UAM (K-UAM) Grand Challenge.'

The Korean-style Grand Challenge is a public-private joint demonstration project aimed at thoroughly verifying safety before UAM commercialization and establishing operational concepts and technical standards suited to domestic conditions.

The government has set the goal of the first UAM commercialization in 2025 and is currently working on system establishment and technology development. Prior to this, it will undertake a demonstration project to verify safety.

The Grand Challenge will conduct demonstrations in two phases: Phase 1 in 2023 and Phase 2 in 2024.

Phase 1 will be conducted at the National Comprehensive Flight Performance Test Site open area (Goheung-gun, Jeollanam-do), verifying the safety of UAM vehicles and communication systems through preliminary tests, and demonstrating integrated operation of the K-UAM traffic system.

Phase 2 will be carried out on routes expected for the first commercialization in 2025, using dedicated UAM airways connecting airports with suburban and urban areas, in a test flight manner close to commercialization.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport selected the National Comprehensive Flight Performance Test Site as the Phase 1 testbed for the Grand Challenge and began building demonstration infrastructure such as designing takeoff and landing pads and test measurement equipment from April this year.

An operational plan including detailed implementation plans such as scenarios for K-UAM operational concept demonstration, demonstration scope, schedule, and participation qualifications has also been prepared.

The government plans to officially announce the K-UAM Grand Challenge promotion plan early next year, recruit participating organizations, and after consultations on demonstration targets and methods, will begin full-scale demonstrations from 2023.

At the meeting, 10 additional organizations were selected as participants of UAM Team Korea, including Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), LIG Nex1, KT, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Keukdong University, Korea Expressway Corporation, Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement, Gyeongbuk Province, Ulsan City, and Chungbuk Province.

UAM Team Korea will continue discussions on more specific matters necessary for UAM commercialization, such as the enactment of a special UAM law next year, establishment of dedicated UAM airways, and presentation of infrastructure guidelines.

Hwang Seong-gyu, 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, “With the multifaceted collaboration and support of UAM Team Korea participating organizations, the K-UAM roadmap is progressing smoothly,” adding, “We will use the final announcement of the Grand Challenge promotion plan early next year as a stepping stone to concretize the realization of Korean-style urban air mobility.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.