Hyundai Motor Group said Monday that it had appointed Dr. Shin Jai-won, former associate administrator of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, as vice president of its newly established urban air mobility division. In his new role, he will lead the development of air mobility technologies for the group. 

The automaker said Shin would propel forward the group’s efforts to advance into the urban air mobility market, based on his expertise in airframe, engine and aviation safety, as well as air traffic management technologies, gained over 30 years.

Shin most recently led the aeronautics research mission directorate at NASA, where he shaped the agency’s aeronautics research and development for over a decade. He was promoted to the top management role in 2008 and led research and development strategies into flying cars and unmanned aerial systems until his retirement this year.

Besides working at NASA, he co-chaired the White House National Science and Technology Council’s Aeronautics Science and Technology Subcommittee in 2008. He received the Presidential Rank Award, the highest accolade presented to public officials in the US federal government, in 2008 and again in 2016.

Born in 1959, he completed his undergraduate studies at Yonsei University and went on to earn a master’s degree from California State University and a doctorate from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. 

Hyundai Motor said the new urban air mobility division will develop core technologies and innovative solutions for safe and efficient air travel. It said urban air mobility will become a critical part of an integrated mobility solution amid increasing traffic issues in megacities globally. 

The urban air mobility division will first establish a road map to effectively enter the urban air mobility market, and then will develop flight control software and safety management technologies before ultimately applying its battery, motor, autonomous vehicle and other core technologies to the urban air mobility business to create synergy, the carmaker said. 

“Hyundai Motor Group aims to become a company that offers unprecedented, innovative smart mobility solutions. Urban air mobility has infinite potential that can bring a totally new innovation in not only the automotive field but the aviation industry as well,” a Hyundai Motor Group official said.

According to Hyundai Motor, the urban air mobility industry is expected to be worth $1.5 trillion in 20 years, with the development of personal air vehicles or air taxis using electric vertical takeoff and landing technologies.

In February, the US traffic information analysis company INRIX released data showing that drivers in the US wasted an average of 97 hours on the street due to traffic in the previous year, amounting to a loss of $1,348 per person in opportunity costs. 

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)