Hyundai Motor, Indonesia to jointly enter ASEAN air mobility market

South Korea’s top automaker Hyundai Motor Group and Indonesia’s Nusantara Capital City Authority have agreed to jointly enter the Southeast Asian advanced air mobility (AAM) market.

The two sides on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to build an AAM ecosystem in Indonesia, regarded as Southeast Asia’s testbed for future air mobility projects.

The MOU was signed at a ceremony attended by key officials from Hyundai and the Indonesian government, including Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Euisun; Shin Jai-won, president and head of Hyundai’s AAM division; and Bambang Susantono, chairman of Indonesia’s New Capital Authority.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest aviation market, is the best country in the region to test advanced air mobility services as the country is an archipelago made up of more than 18,000 islands, making it nearly impossible for a land transport system to develop, Hyundai said.

The two sides will take their AAM business globally if their joint project takes off successfully in Indonesia and the broader Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region, it said.

The initial agreement, which comes on the sidelines of the B20 Summit 2022, a gathering of business leaders from 20 advanced countries in Bali, will help pave the way for the island country’s efforts to move its current capital, Jakarta, and build a new transportation infrastructure in its future capital of Nusantara.

The Nusantara Capital City Authority is a cabinet-level agency formed by the Indonesian government. It’s a special agency tasked with managing and governing the new capital city of Nusantara, set to be inaugurated in August 2024 in the province of East Kalimantan on Borneo.

“The Indonesian government is actively seeking to introduce a smart mobility system in the new capital,” said a Hyundai Motor official.

The Korean automotive group, which includes Hyundai Motor Co. and affiliate Kia Corp., also plans to test a land mobility system in connection with the envisaged AAM ecosystem and air mobility vehicles.

“Indonesia’s new capital will be a good testbed for an AAM system. We’re happy to work with Hyundai to turn Nusantara into a smart city,” said the head of the New Capital Authority.

OTHER KOREA-INDONESIA PROJECTS

Meanwhile, at the Korea-Indonesia business round table held on Monday, about 10 other initial business agreements were signed at both the private and government levels.

LG CNS Co., the information technology service arm of LG Group, agreed with Indonesia’s New Capital Authority to cooperate in the construction of a smart city in Nusantara.

State-run Korea Mine Rehabilitation and Mineral Resources Corp. (KOMIR) signed an MOU on a mineral supply deal with a local nickel industry association.

Under the MOU, the two sides will jointly explore nickel mines and investment opportunities in Indonesia, the world’s largest nickel producer.

Korea’s Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs and the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries also signed MOUs on the Jakarta MRT phase 4 development and maritime transport cooperation with Indonesia’s transport ministry.

Write to Han-Shin Park and In-Yeop Kim at phs@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.