Hyundai Motor will join hands with British mobility company to speed up the development of infrastructure related to urban air mobility, the automaker confirmed Thursday.

Hyundai Air Mobility, a unit of Hyundai Motor Group, and UK-based Urban-Air Port agreed to partner to jointly develop infrastructure for urban air mobility, which is urban transportation systems to move people and cargo by air, according to Hyundai Motor.

Under the partnership, Hyundai Air Mobility and Urban-Air Port plan to invest in development of a full-scale prototype for live all-electric vertical take-off and landing, or eVTOL, demonstrations. To that end, the automaker signed a memorandum of understanding with two cities, West Midlands and Coventry, for UAM research.

“As part of Hyundai Motor Group, our air mobility division is intent on supporting the development of human-centered cities through innovation,” said Shin Jai-won, head of Hyundai Air Mobility.

Hyundai plans to invest $1.5 billion in urban air mobility over the next five years to create an air vehicle and a supporting mobility ecosystem for operations. The firm forecasts the air mobility market will be worth nearly $1.5 trillion over the next 20 years.

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)