[Courtesy of Hanwha Systems]
SEOUL -- Showing a strong interest in air taxis which are seen as urban mobility in the future, Hanwha Systems, a provider of defense products and technologies in South Korea, will make a $25 million equity investment in K4 Aeronautics, a U.S. personal air vehicle developer.
Hanwha Systems said Thursday that it would participate in the development of personal air vehicles (PAVs) targeting the American market. The company promised to increase its investment in K4 Aeronautics as nurture air taxis as its next growth engine.
PAVs are emerging as a future system of travel to avoid traffic jams on urban roads as the doorstep-to-doorstep average speed for cars is predicted to degrade further. An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft which makes short flights on demand. Startups as well as global giants such as Airbus, Boeing and Uber are vying to develop PAVs and autonomous air taxis.
Hanwha Systems, a unit of South Korea's Hanwha Group, said that it would utilize aviation electronics, system integration and cybersecurity technologies for the development of PAVs and expand its business opportunities to new fields such as aviation and electronics parts.
"PAV is an attractive business item that can expand our business into new fields by utilizing technologies from aviation electronics and information communication technology," a Hanwha official said. "We will foster it as a future growth engine through global investment and cooperation with leading companies."
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