T Map Mobility is launched by SK Telecom

SK Telecom spun off its existing mobility business unit and officially launched T Map Mobility on Tuesday as its subsidiary. T Map Mobility will build a comprehensive mobility life platform, ranging from taxi haling, chauffeur service, and shared parking business to flying cars based on its alliance with Uber, the world’s biggest mobility platform. It will accelerate competition for innovations against existing mobility players, such as Kakao Mobility and SoCar, as well as Hyundai Motor Group and others pursuing mobility innovations, such as flying cars.

Based on South Korea’s No. 1 GPS service T Map, the new spin-off company will focus on taxi-hailing, chauffeur service, and shared parking platform; the expansion of T Map Auto, which is an in-car payment system installed in the models of Jaguar Cars, Land Rover, and Volvo; advertisements for insurance-affiliated products on T Map; and in-vehicle infotainment (IVI) system. Its mid- to long-term goal is to provide flying car service to travel between Seoul and its nearby region in under 30 minutes.

In particular, T Map Mobility will bundle up multiple services into subscription-based products. For example, services, such as car rental, taxi-hailing, electric kickboards, shared bicycles, and shared parking, will be bundled up into a monthly subscription service, offering a better price than individually purchasing them.

The company will begin its cooperation with global mobility service provider Uber. Uber plans to invest a total of 150 million dollars – 50 million dollars in T Map Mobility and 100 million dollars in a separate joint venture to be formed with SK Telecom.


Keun-Hyung Yoo noel@donga.com · Hyung-Seok Seo skytree08@donga.com