Advanced air mobility to be game-changer: transport minister

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Tue, September 26, 2023 | 09:34

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Advanced air mobility to be game-changer: transport minister

Posted : 2023-01-19 16:35

Updated : 2023-01-19 16:37

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong, third from left, delivers a keynote speech at the Aerospace Governors Meeting session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday (local time). Yonhap

By Lee Kyung-min

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Won Hee-ryong stressed that advanced air mobility (AAM) will be a game-changer for future urban transportation systems at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, the ministry said Thursday.

He gave a keynote speech at the Aerospace Governors Meeting session on Wednesday, outlining his vision for facilitating AAM.

"We need continued innovation to counter growing concerns about the saturation of the ground transportation system, compounded further by the sustained poor performance of the transportation industry brought on and amplified by years of the COVID-19 pandemic, soaring global energy costs and weakening investor sentiment," he said in the session.

Won outlined the major challenges ahead for the realization of future air mobility. They are: safety, noise reduction measures, the combination of low fares and high-speed and effective communication infrastructure to prevent heavy traffic congestion in cities.

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Won introduced the Korean government's policy to foster future aviation mobility businesses.

"Korea has established urban air mobility (UAM) Team Korea, a group representing the government, private players, academia and research institutes seeking to advance the future mobility services industry," he said. "Starting this year, leading local and foreign firms will join the project for the effective and efficient commercialization and verification of the high-tech industry."

Korea will, Won added, outline a legal framework to help remove regulations and foster research and development, efforts backed up by continued global cooperation.

Won met with Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, a U.S. mobility service and ride-hailing firm, to discuss the topics of platform taxis and autonomous driving.

The minister also had a meeting with Pedro Gomez, the head of shaping the future of mobility at the WEF and a member of its executive committee.

The two had a discussion on the future of the mobility sector, and shared thoughts on the challenges posed to both the public and private sectors in the pursuit of the sustainable mobility initiative.

"The Fourth Industrial Revolution was first discussed at Davos in 2016, and mobility innovation has since been accelerating," Won said. "I find it very meaningful to discuss Korea's mobility innovation efforts here at Davos."

He will attend at the Automotive & New Mobility Governors Plus Meeting a session titled, "Toward a Resilient Urban Resource Nexus," Thursday, to promote the country's autonomous driving and smart city planning policies.

lkm@koreatimes.co.kr