Kakao Mobility pre-orders up to 50 Vertical Aerospace VX4s
Vertical Aerospace has announced that South Korean mobility technology firm, Kakao Mobility, has pre-ordered up to 50 of its VX4 aircraft.
Kakao Mobility is the largest Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) platform in South Korea with more than 30m registered users. It is the mobility subsidiary of South Korean internet giant, Kakao Corporation. The firm runs the country’s most popular taxi-hailing app, Kakao T and Kakao Navi app which provides real-time traffic information services. The deal marks South Korea as Vertical’s latest launch market.
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Vertical’s founder and CEO said, “We are delighted to be partnering with Kakao Mobility. With its over 30m registered users, Kakao Mobility is the go-to choice to ‘hail a ride’ and with our partnership, we look forward to people across South Korea being able to fly in a VX4 in the years to come. We are thrilled to be working together to make our joint vision a reality’.”
Vertical and Kakao Mobility will establish a joint working group to drive the commercialisation of AAM services in South Korea. The working group builds on Vertical’s existing partnership with Kakao Mobility, LG Uplus, GS E&C, and its discussions with Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, for the K-UAM Grand Challenge.
Alex Ryu, CEO of Kakao Mobility added: “We are excited to take part in Vertical Aerospace’s mission to launch its VX4 globally and to bring an UAM service to Korean market. We will be expanding our business not only on the ground but to the sky through this partnership. As a consolidated mobility platform, Kakao Mobility will develop the ‘De Facto Standard’ for UAM services. We look forward to collaborating closely to complete the K-UAM Grand Challenge successfully and into commercialisation shortly after K-UAM GC.”