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"700,000 Seoul UAM Users by 2030"…Hyundai Motor Leads in Securing Key Talent

[Asia Economy Reporter Su-yeon Woo] Despite the global hiring freeze caused by the impact of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), Hyundai Motor Group is steadily recruiting external talent in the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) business sector.


According to the automotive and aviation industries on the 6th, Hyundai Motor Group recently appointed J. Scott Drennan, Vice President of Innovation at Bell Textron, as Executive Director in charge of development for Hyundai Motor Group's UAM business division.


Executive Director Drennan has worked for over 25 years at Bell Textron, a U.S. helicopter manufacturer, leading the development of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft such as the V-22, AW609, and V-280 for commercial and military purposes as an engineer. In 2018, he also served as an aviation commissioner on the advisory board of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).


It is known that the role of Jaewon Shin, Vice President in charge of Hyundai Motor Group's UAM business division and a former NASA member, was instrumental in Drennan's joining Hyundai Motor Group. Vice President Shin stated on the company's global website, "We expect Executive Director Drennan to lead development based on his extensive experience in VTOL and UAM fields."


Executive Director Drennan will be responsible for developing personal air vehicles (PAV) for urban air mobility alongside Vice President Shin. He expressed his aspirations, saying, "I am honored to contribute to Hyundai Motor Group's future mobility vision. Through new UAM, I want to give back the precious time that many people have lost in their daily lives due to traffic congestion."


"700,000 Seoul UAM Users by 2030"…Hyundai Motor Leads in Securing Key Talent Scott Drennan, Executive Vice President in charge of Development at Hyundai Motor Group UAM Division


Hyundai Motor Group is nurturing the UAM business as a core sector for next-generation growth and is accelerating bold global talent recruitment in related fields. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has contracted not only overseas but also domestic hiring markets, the group is steadily attracting UAM-related personnel both domestically and internationally.


According to an aviation specialized media outlet on the same day, Hyundai Motor Group is currently pursuing the recruitment of Michael Whitaker, former Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and Diana Marina Cooper, Vice President of Strategy from drone analytics startup PrecisionHawk. In addition, the group is recruiting experienced professionals in the UAM field domestically. The recruitment areas include UAM airframe design and testing, UAM battery system development, control and avionics software and system reliability, UAM hybrid propulsion system development, and UAM load analysis, seeking experts across various fields.


Hyundai Motor Group's urgency in recruiting UAM personnel domestically and internationally stems from its optimistic outlook on the market's growth potential and the rapidly growing market intensifying competition for expert recruitment. According to Samjong KPMG, the global UAM market is expected to grow to $1.5 trillion (approximately 1,854 trillion KRW) by 2040, and by 2050, the number of UAM users worldwide is projected to reach 450 million.


In particular, it is anticipated that UAM users in densely populated and congested Asian megacities will increase explosively. KPMG ranked Tokyo (1.1 million) and Shanghai (1 million) as the top UAM user cities in 2030, followed jointly by Seoul, New York, and Beijing (each with 700,000 users) in third place.


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