Autonomous vehicles are so 2020 and the cools kids are all about the Urban Air Mobility these days.
South Korea has been at the leading edge of 5G development from the start and it seems determined to maintain that position. While everyone else is still wondering how to make driverless cars, operator SKT has signed one of those MoUs with the Korea Airports Corporation, Hanwha Systems and the Korea Transport Institute to collaborate for the commercialization of Urban Air Mobility (UAM).
This category seems to specifically cover electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, which seem to be a kind of cross between a regular car and a civilian drone. Apparently these are a thing now and a quick search on YouTube yielded the video below that had picked its top eight of them.
“Through close partnership with the Korea Airports Corporation, Hanwha Systems, and the Korea Transport Institute, we will accelerate the commercialization of urban air mobility in Korea and gain industry leadership by introducing a new and innovative mobility infrastructure,” said Ryu Young-sang, President of MNO at SKT.
It would presumably be impossible for human air traffic controllers to manage a future in which everyone is whizzing around in once of these things. So robust, ubiquitous connectivity combined with advanced AI will be required to stop everyone flying into each other. It makes sense, therefore, for telcos to get involved at the start and we look forward to the skies about Seoul resembling a scene from the Fifth Element before long.