Partners with Joby Aviation of the U.S.

TMAP Mobility has partnered with Joby Aviation of the United States to commercialize urban air mobility by 2025.

TMAP Mobility, a joint venture created by Uber and SK Telecom, will develop a Korean-style urban air mobility (UAM) by partnering with Joby Aviation, a California-based aerospace company that is developing an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. 

TMAP Mobility announced on May 4 that it has signed a strategic business agreement (MOU) with Joby Aviation to launch joint research on UAM services. The company plans to launch a commercial UAM service in 2025.

The two companies will use TMAP Mobility’s population movement and vehicle operation data to select domestic UAM routes and the location of vertiports for UAM takeoff and landing. They will develop a platform for UAM services, design  infrastructure and build a business model optimized for the domestic market.

TMAP Mobility plans to provide UAM services through its platform, which will handle a series of processes from aircraft reservations to boarding and transfers to other modes of transportation at once.

In January 2021, the company formed the K-UAM Dream Team together with SK Telecom, Hanwha Systems, and Korea Airports Corporation.

Joby Aviation is an electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle (eVTOL) manufacturer established in 2009. As the only aerial vehicle manufacturer that has obtained a commercial flight license from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), it is evaluated as the company closest to commercializing UAM. In Korea, it is also working with SK Telecom to participate in the Korean UAM Grand Challenge (K-UAM), a government-led UAM project.

According to Morgan Stanley, the global UAM market is expected to grow from US$7 billion in 2020 to US$156 billion in 2026.

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