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Supernal , the advanced air mobility companionship under Hyundai Motor Group , took the wrap off its late iteration of an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft called the S - A2 that executive say is design to shuttle passengers by 2028 .
The S - A2 is fundamentally a more fully parched version of what it intend to found commercially and confirms that , at least for now , Hyundai is still intent on getting into the yet - to - exist electrical air hack business .
That timeline , which was announced Tuesday duringCES 2024 , has come down to globe in the three years since itrevealed its vision construct , also known as S - A1 . At that prison term , Hyundai announced a partnership with Uber Elevate — a company that was gobbled upby Joby Aviation — to develop and potentially mass - green groceries air cab for a future aerial rideshare connection . Uber Elevate said it would start flight demos in 2020 and bid commercial-grade rides in 2023 .
With the eVTOL industriousness still lack a single commercial operator , Hyundai ’s Supernal came back to CES 2024 with more grounded plans .
And it ’s surely throw resourcefulness at the project to get there — although Hyundai has never disclose its exact investment . Supernal has grow to a 600 - mortal team and is also using technical and business enterprise capabilities of Hyundai Motor Group and airmanship supplier around the world as it works toward a commercial-grade launching , according to Jaiwon Shin , Hyundai Motor Group president and CEO of Supernal .
There is still quite a bit of work to be done before that can find , Supernal CTO Ben Diachun noted on the sidelines of the case .
The S - A2 will have to go through a drawn-out Type 1 certification process with the Federal Aviation Administration before it can vanish commercially . The troupe will begin testing this twelvemonth in California its so - scream technology protester vehicle , Diachun said . Supernal will also submit this class its app to the FAA . In 2025 , Supernal will relegate to the FAA its proposition for means of compliance , he added .
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The nuts and bolts
The aircraft shown Tuesday is a V - tail with a distributed galvanizing propulsion architecture and eight all - tilting rotor . The S - A2 is loaded with the kind of redundant components like the powertrain , flight controls and avionics — all of the safety decisive systems required for commercial-grade air travel .
The aircraft is plan to cruise 120 mile - per - hour at a 1,500 - fundament elevation . This is meant to be for suburban into inner urban center travelling , with trip-up devolve between 25 and 40 miles , ab initio .
Diachun say onstage that the aircraft would lock at about 65 decibels as it takes off and earth and 45 decibels while cruise , about the same as a dishwashing machine , he claimed .
The society ’s designers and engineers also made the interior modular , let in the ability to replace the battery as applied science ameliorate .