• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
  • About
    • Contact
    • Privacy
    • Terms of use
  • Advertise
    • Advertising
    • Case studies
    • Design
    • Email marketing
    • Features list
    • Lead generation
    • Magazine
    • Press releases
    • Publishing
    • Sponsor an article
    • Webcasting
    • Webinars
    • White papers
    • Writing
  • Subscribe to Newsletter

Robotics & Automation News

Where Innovation Meets Imagination

  • Home
  • News
  • Features
  • Editorial Sections A-Z
    • Agriculture
    • Aircraft
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Automation
    • Autonomous Vehicles
    • Business
    • Computing
    • Construction
    • Culture
    • Design
    • Drones
    • Economy
    • Energy
    • Engineering
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Humanoids
    • Industrial robots
    • Industry
    • Infrastructure
    • Investments
    • Logistics
    • Manufacturing
    • Marine
    • Material handling
    • Materials
    • Mining
    • Promoted
    • Research
    • Robotics
    • Science
    • Sensors
    • Service robots
    • Software
    • Space
    • Technology
    • Transportation
    • Warehouse robots
    • Wearables
  • Press releases
  • Events

Hanwha Systems gearing up to enter air taxi market

January 20, 2020 by Mai Tao

Hanwha Systems is making a $25 million investment in US air taxi startup Overair, and has received approval from the relevant authorities for the move.

Hanwha Systems and Overair research and development are planning to co-develop and bring the “Butterfly” to the US air-taxi market by the year 2025.

In early December of 2019, Youn-Chul Kim, CEO of Hanwha Systems, said that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) approved Hanwha Systems’ $25 million investment in Overair (previously K4 Aeronautics), a leading US air-taxi startup.

This closely follows Hanwha Systems’ announcement of its plans to invest in, and partner with, Overair at a time when air taxis are drawing significant attention as the future of transportation.

Overair was spun-off from Karem Aircraft, an aerospace-development firm that specializes in aircraft capable of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL).

The Butterfly will be used to transport passengers over and across urban environments

Overair is a pioneer in the development of air taxis and one of the key partners of Uber Elevate. Uber is a global ride-sharing service and Uber Elevate is its project to commercialize air taxis.

The US government’s approval for Hanwha to invest in Overair will accelerate the development of the “Butterfly” personal-air-vehicle (PAV) project.

Hanwha Systems will contribute to the Butterfly’s development to maximize the synergy between technology and business.

The Butterfly is an all-electric VTOL (eVTOL) air-transport vehicle that leverages low-noise and high-efficiency Optimum Speed Tiltrotor technology.

This means, the Butterfly can be employed as an eco-friendly urban air taxi that can travel quietly, safely, and efficiently.

Under its current specifications, the Butterfly will be able to seat four passengers and one pilot while its battery capacity will allow it to achieve airspeeds of up to 240 km/h and a range exceeding 100 km.

Abe Karem is chief designer and co-founder of Overair and founder of Karem Aircraft. He is a renowned aerospace engineer who designed the Predator A–a medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)–and 14 other types of aircraft.

Ben Tigner is CEO of Overair and president at Karem Aircraft. He was formerly VP of Engineering at Frontier Systems and chief engineer for the A160 Program at Boeing.

Overair and Hanwha Systems are working together to get the Butterfly approved as a civilian all-electric air-transport vehicle by the US Federal Aviation Administration.

Hanwha Systems is also looking to increase its investment in Overair and explore opportunities in Korea’s domestic market at the same time.

In addition, Hanwha Systems is currently working on optionally-piloted personal-air vehicles (OPPAV) and a Korean multi-governmental agency development project involving the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.

Youn-Chul Kim, Hanwha Systems CEO, says: “Hanwha Systems secured the funds to invest in Overair through our recent IPO. We’ve fully completed preparations to enter the air taxi market in earnest.

“We’re strengthening our competitiveness in information and communications technology division and avionics. We’re also investing in air taxis–our company’s future growth engine–by aggressively seeking investment and partnership opportunities worldwide.”

Air taxis are emerging technologies that may change the face of modern transportation. They have the potential to overcome serious issues such as traffic congestion, physical infrastructure limits, noise pollution, and air pollution among other environmental problems.

Government agencies and private companies around the world are actively pursuing air-taxi development thanks to recent progress in battery and motor technologies, collision avoidance, autonomous flight, and other advanced technologies.

In the US, the first air taxis are forecasted to launch pilot services in 2023, with commercialization expected to begin in 2025. Morgan Stanley anticipates that the urban air-taxi transport market will grow to $1.5 trillion by 2040.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Share this:

  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window) Telegram
  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket

Related stories you might also like…

Filed Under: Design, Features Tagged With: air, air-taxi, aircraft, butterfly, ceo, development, hanwha, invest, investment, karem, market, overair, project, systems, taxi, taxis, technologies, technology, uber, vehicle

Primary Sidebar

Search this website

Latest articles

  • Safety standards and innovations in human-robot collaboration
  • Outrider builds ‘first-in-industry’ safety system for driverless yard operations
  • Foundation EGI raises $23 million to build ‘world’s first engineering general intelligence platform’
  • How advanced automation is transforming waste management
  • Augmentus raises $11 million to scale physical AI for complex robotic surface finishing and welding
  • GreenBot unveils autonomous system for weeding woody crop areas
  • The Rise of the Autonomous Fab Shop: Why Waterjet Cutting is Leading the Automation Revolution
  • Mendaera receives FDA clearance for handheld robotic system for ultrasound-guided needle placement
  • Prime Vision robots optimize K-Parts order picking for motorbike spares
  • Vidnoz Review: The Free AI Video Generator That’s Redefining Content Creation

Secondary Sidebar

Copyright © 2025 · News Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies.
Do not sell my personal information.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT