CES 2020: Hyundai reveals flying car

Just as it promised, Hyundai unveiled its first flying car at the 2020 Consumer Electronics Show today in Las Vegas, where it also announced a new partnership to develop Uber Air Taxis for a future aerial network to be established with the ride-sharing giant.

Each company is already involved in developing its own runway-free urban air travel network; Hyundai with its Urban Air Mobility (UAM) Division and Uber with its Elevate Network.

However, by teaming up the pair says it will be able to share things like airspace support services and connections to ground transportation, as well as being able to collaborate on infrastructure concepts to support take-off and landing of the new flying taxis.

The idea behind the partnership is to eventually mass-produce quad-propeller electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) vehicles using Hyundai’s “automotive-scale manufacturing capability and track record of mass-producing electric vehicles”.

Hyundai says the full-scale all-electric Personal Air Vehicle (PAV) concept it unveiled at CES, dubbed S-A1, is designed for cruising speeds of up to 290km/h and elevations of between 300 and 600 metres off the ground.

Hyundai says the S-A1 will be piloted at first, but will eventually travel autonomously with up to four passengers on board for distances of around 100km on a full charge (which only takes five to seven minutes).

Hyundai’s electric aircraft utilises distributed electric propulsion, powering multiple rotors and propellers around the airframe to increase safety by decreasing any single point of failure.

Having several, smaller rotors also reduces noise relative to large rotor helicopters with combustion engines, says Hyundai.

The model is designed to take off vertically, transition to wing-borne lift in cruise, and then transition back to vertical flight to land.

Previewed late last year, Hyundai said the full-scale VTOL aircraft it revealed today was created in part through Uber’s open design process, “a NASA-inspired approach that jump-starts innovation by publicly releasing vehicle design concepts so any company can use them to innovate their air taxi models and engineering technologies”.

While several car-makers are developing VTOL vehicles, Hyundai is the first automotive company to join the Uber Elevate initiative, and the two companies appear further advanced than others in terms of flying car network infrastructure.

Uber previously promised to deliver flying taxis by 2020 and said they wouldn’t cost much more than the equivalent ride in an UberX on the ground.

Key to Hyundai’s transition into a ‘Smart Mobility Solution Provider’ via its new Urban Air Mobility (UAM) division are the PAV showcased at CES in collaboration with Uber and the Purpose Built Vehicle (PBV), which it says could “serve various functions in transit, such as restaurant and clinic” and “utilize AI to find optimal route and travel in platoon”.

Linking passengers from the road-going PBV to the airborne PAV (known as the S-Link in concept form) will be multiple Hubs, which Hyundai says will be “a place for mobility transfer and community activities”.

The Hub has a skyport for the PAV on the top and docking stations on the ground for the PBV to approach and depart from multiple directions.

Hyundai says hubs can be transformed into an infinite number of new spaces depending on how PBVs are connected.

“For instance, the Hub can be turned into a cultural complex by bringing together PBVs functioning as concert halls, movie theaters, and museums. It can also be transformed into a medical complex by connecting medical service PBVs in the form of clinics, doctor’s offices and pharmacies.”

Hyundai says its vision for urban mobility “aims to free future cities and people from constraints of time and space and allow them to create more value in their lives”.

“UAM, PBV, and Hub will revitalize cities by removing urban boundaries, giving people time to pursue their goals, and creating a diverse community,” said Euisun Chung, Executive Vice Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group.

“For our smart mobility solutions, we considered what truly matters in cities and in people's lives. UAM, PBV, and Hub will revitalize cities by removing urban boundaries, giving people time to pursue their goals, and creating a diverse community.

“Our goal is to help build dynamic human-centered future cities and continue our legacy of progress for humanity. CES 2020 is just the start and we will continue to realize this vision.”