The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has launched an urban demonstration project to verify the practical operability of Korean urban air mobility (K-UAM). This demonstration is a phase to check whether next-generation air mobility can operate safely in an actual urban environment.
According to the ministry on the 22nd, phase two of the "K-UAM Grand Challenge" will take place from this day around the Incheon Ara Waterway area. While phase one conducted in Goheung, South Jeolla, last year verified basic performance in open areas, the key in this phase is to test the stability of an integrated flight operation system amid the complex traffic and radio environments of the city.
The "K-UAM One Team," which includes Korean Air, Hyundai Motor, KT, Hyundai E&C, and Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC), and the "K-UAM Dream Team," led by Korea Airports Corporation (KAC) and Hanwha Systems, will take part in this demonstration. After the two consortia were designated as demonstration operators for the first time since the Urban Air Mobility Act took effect last year, they will undergo public verification of their independently developed operational technologies.
In the urban demonstration, a helicopter will be used as a surrogate aircraft instead of an actual electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft (eVTOL) to test core operating systems. The focus will be on ensuring that all operational infrastructure—such as the "traffic management system" to prevent midair collisions, the "vertiport management system" that handles vertiport operations, and the "5G aerial network" for real-time communications—operates stably in real urban environments.
Simulations assuming contingencies such as communication failures or GPS errors will also be conducted in parallel to verify system resilience and response capability. The ministry said it plans to use this process to confirm whether urban air mobility can coexist with existing aviation systems, including airports and military airspace.
Kim Hong-mok, director general of mobility and automobiles at the ministry, said, "This urban demonstration is the most important and practical first step to opening an era in which future aircraft fly in the sky," adding, "It may look like a helicopter on the outside, but inside, the history of the core operating systems that will make up Korea's UAM ecosystem is being written, and our goal is to first build these core operating systems perfectly to secure absolute safety that the public can trust."