Hyundai’s electric air taxi startup, Supernal, has paused work on its aircraft program following a difficult period that included staff cuts and the departure of its Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technology Officer. This information comes from two people familiar with the matter.
The shakeup occurs while Supernal is still in its very early stages. The company’s first test flight of its technology demonstrator took place earlier this year. Although Supernal has conducted subsequent tests, it was still working toward its first untethered test flight before this pause was enacted. The company had previously planned to launch a commercial service in 2028.
Supernal announced the departure of CEO Jaiwon Shin late last week. According to sources granted anonymity to discuss private matters, Chief Technology Officer David McBride has also left the company. Regarding its planned commercial service, the startup stated that its newly appointed leadership will assess and determine the optimal timeline moving forward. The company declined to comment on McBride’s departure.
Supernal’s struggles reflect a period of upheaval across the nascent electric air taxi industry. Some startups, like Toyota-backed Joby, have been raising funds and announcing new partnerships and acquisitions. Others, like Lilium, have gone out of business.
Originally spun out of the Hyundai Group in 2021, Supernal laid off dozens of employees earlier this summer ahead of this executive shakeup. This followed the startup’s abrupt decision to wind down its new Washington, D.C. headquarters late last year.
David Rottblatt, Supernal’s senior business development director, is now overseeing the business operations of Supernal as Interim Chief Operating Officer during this transition. The larger Hyundai Group plans to appoint new leadership with deep expertise in business operations to advance Urban Air Mobility solutions and guide the organization into its next phase of growth.
That initial test flight had been long-promised by the now-former CEO. At the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show, where the company showed off a larger, non-flying concept vehicle, Shin discussed how Supernal was nearly ready to push the limits of the technology with the demonstrator. In August 2024, McBride stated that the test flight would validate the company’s ability to build an aircraft ahead of the planned 2028 commercial launch.
This is the second futuristic startup under the Hyundai umbrella to run into trouble in recent years. In 2024, the Korean conglomerate had to double down on its autonomous vehicle startup, Motional, after its backing partner Aptiv decided to stop funding the joint venture. That situation led to a major restructuring at Motional late last year that involved layoffs of around forty percent of its staff and the eventual departure of its CEO.