Supernal and City of Miami announce partnership to develop engagement framework for advanced air mobility in Florida

Super­nal has signed a Mem­o­ran­dum of Under­stand­ing (MOU) with the City of Mia­mi in the USA, which will cre­ate a com­pre­hen­sive engage­ment frame­work to enable the devel­op­ment of advanced air mobil­i­ty (AAM).

The MOU, which is the first-of-its-kind, aims to increase equi­ty of access, incu­bate local tal­ent and serve as a replic­a­ble mod­el for human-cen­tred future cities. It affords Super­nal and the city in Flori­da to take mean­ing­ful steps toward deliv­er­ing inno­v­a­tive, mul­ti­modal and com­mu­ni­ty-focused mobil­i­ty solu­tions that ben­e­fit peo­ple and soci­ety. 

It also cre­ates a mech­a­nism for the city to work with indus­try and com­mu­ni­ty stake­hold­ers to devel­op inclu­sive and for­ward-think­ing poli­cies that enable AAM and best serve Miami’s cit­i­zens and res­i­dents. 

Jai­won Shin, CEO of Super­nal, and Pres­i­dent of Hyundai Motor Group, said: “We are hon­oured to play a role in respon­si­bly co-cre­at­ing the future of mobil­i­ty for the city of Mia­mi. Because of the lead­er­ship demon­strat­ed by May­or Suarez, our work togeth­er will help estab­lish the city of Mia­mi as a mod­el for AAM mar­ket devel­op­ment we hope to repli­cate in oth­er cities.” 

As part of the MOU, Super­nal and the City will col­lab­o­rate with com­mu­ni­ty organ­i­sa­tions to iden­ti­fy cur­rent gaps in exist­ing trans­porta­tion, deter­mine how AAM can help and if need­ed, rec­om­mend poten­tial new poli­cies. The MOU also includes launch­ing work­force devel­op­ment and edu­ca­tion ini­tia­tives that recruit and incu­bate local tal­ent and inte­grate AAM into exist­ing tran­sit net­works, such as Metro­rail, Metrobus and Metro­mover.

Mia­mi may­or Fran­cis Suarez said: “I’m excit­ed to trans­form Mia­mi into an epi­cen­tre of cre­ativ­i­ty and inno­va­tion. This next chap­ter in the City’s long his­to­ry includes lead­ing the future of mobil­i­ty and mak­ing it eas­i­er for peo­ple to move around. This MOU will pave the way for cities nation­wide and across the world to solve mobil­i­ty chal­lenges that will enhance the qual­i­ty of life for their con­stituents.” 

The poli­cies devel­oped and insights gained through this first-of-its kind col­lab­o­ra­tion can serve as a mod­el for munic­i­pal lead­ers nation­wide as more cities begin to adopt new mobil­i­ty solu­tions.

Ven­ture Mia­mi, the bridge-build­ing team in the mayor’s office respon­si­ble for devel­op­ing the city’s inno­va­tion and tech­nol­o­gy ecosys­tem, will over­see key aspects of the MOU and con­vene reg­u­lar work­ing group meet­ings and col­lab­o­ra­tions with influ­en­tial com­mu­ni­ty, busi­ness and edu­ca­tion lead­ers to out­line the nec­es­sary steps to actu­alise AAM in Mia­mi.

Diana Coop­er, Glob­al Head of Pol­i­cy and Reg­u­la­tion of Super­nal, added: “Our part­ner­ship with the City of Mia­mi is about more than sell­ing elec­tric air vehi­cles or secur­ing rights to estab­lish oper­a­tions. At this stage, our inter­est is bring­ing togeth­er dif­fer­ent pub­lic and pri­vate sec­tor voic­es to explore when and how AAM can address the city’s trans­porta­tion needs and chal­lenges.

“From there, we will cre­ate a roadmap togeth­er based on com­mu­ni­ty input and oth­er con­sid­er­a­tions. When Mia­mi suc­ceeds, Super­nal suc­ceeds.”

Super­nal will serve as an ongo­ing resource to the City and to May­or Suarez, in recog­ni­tion of the lead­er­ship demon­strat­ed in embrac­ing this trans­for­ma­tive tech­nol­o­gy. 

The com­pa­ny launched as the Urban Air Mobil­i­ty Divi­sion of Hyundai Motor Group in Jan­u­ary 2020 and debuted as Super­nal in Novem­ber 2021. In addi­tion to work­ing with pub­lic and pri­vate stake­hold­ers to respon­si­bly shape the emerg­ing AAM indus­try, Super­nal is devel­op­ing a fam­i­ly of elec­tric air vehi­cles. It plans to launch its first com­mer­cial flight in 2028.