HYUNDAI Motor Group aims to begin initial test flights of its electric air taxi by the end of the year as the world’s third-largest carmaker joins the race to develop the next generation of transport.

The South Korean company will apply for certification of the vehicle in the United States by the middle of 2024 with the goal of starting technology demonstrator flights by the end of the year, according to Shin Jaiwon, chief executive officer of Supernal, the Hyundai unit developing the craft. The company plans to launch a formal service in 2028 after meeting testing requirements to ensure it is ready for the public.

The executive detailed the timeline as the company unveiled a product concept of the electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft at the CES technology conference in Las Vegas. Hyundai is racing to catch up with rivals in the nascent, though increasingly crowded, field of eVTOLs, as the vehicles are called.

The flying taxi will be a hybrid between a helicopter and a fixed-wing plane, while some competing models rely primarily on rotors. The battery-powered S-A2 will be quiet, efficient and zero-emission, the company said.

Hyundai is studying various battery options for the vehicle, including lithium-metal and solid-state batteries, Shin said on Tuesday (Jan 9). “We are also working on different chemistry to make sure we can capitalise on the most advanced battery technology.”

The company is aggressively pursuing air taxis and has spent nearly US$1 billion on Supernal in the roughly two years since it was founded. The firm has already opened an engineering headquarters in Irvine, California, and a new research and development facility in the same state.

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Hyundai is targeting the US for the initial rollout and will expand eventually to Asia and Europe. The company is considering manufacturing locations around the US but has not made a decision yet, Shin said.

“We will be able to leverage and capitalise the tremendous mass manufacturing capability that Hyundai Motor Group has,” he added. BLOOMBERG