National Assembly Launches 'Mobility Forum'... "Public-Private-Academic Cooperation Essential for Market Leadership"

The Founding General Assembly of the National Assembly Mobility Forum Held on the 13th

On the 13th, the Mobility Forum inaugural general meeting and seminar were held in the 2nd conference room of the National Assembly Members' Office Building.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] In the era of the 4th Industrial Revolution, the National Assembly Mobility Forum was launched on the 13th to foster the mobility industry as a future growth engine. As global companies intensify their mobility strategies, the forum plans to share the current status of the domestic industry and examine various regulations that constrain new industries.

On this day, the Mobility Forum inaugural general meeting and seminar were held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building, 2nd Small Conference Room. Attendees included forum co-chairs Representative Kwon Seong-dong, an independent lawmaker, and Representative Lee Won-wook of the Democratic Party, along with political figures, industry experts such as Chung Man-ki, President of the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association, and Yang Jin-mo, Vice President of Hyundai Motor Company, as well as academics.

The automotive industry expressed high expectations for the launch of the National Assembly forum, which will serve as a hub for the development of the mobility industry. In his congratulatory speech, President Chung said, “The mobility service market is rapidly reorganizing, and cooperation among diverse companies is expanding, with preparations underway to secure a leading position in the mobility market. We have high hopes for the launch of the National Assembly Mobility Forum as a platform to reflect the diverse voices of the mobility industry in policies and institutional reforms.”

At the seminar, Professor Jung Gu-min of the Department of Electronic Engineering at Kookmin University gave the first keynote presentation. Professor Jung identified the core elements of future mobility evolution as the 'passenger economy' from a service perspective and flying cars and autonomous vehicles from a technological perspective. He emphasized, “The key strategies for future mobility development will be service development for a superior passenger experience, designing and securing infrastructure and parking lots that allow flying cars to operate smoothly, and robot-friendly building designs. It is important to design mobility devices and services for users and create environments where flying cars, autonomous vehicles, and robots can move efficiently.”

The value of the mobility market and industry currently reaches 8 trillion KRW domestically and is expected to grow to 15 trillion KRW by 2030. Competition is intensifying as Google’s Waymo, partnered with China’s Didi Chuxing, has accumulated 10 million miles of data through unmanned taxi experiments, and Tesla’s Autopilot navigation NoA has reached 1 billion miles.

In this situation, the common consensus among attendees was that cooperation across all sectors?industry, academia, civil society, and government?is essential to take the lead. Song Chang-hyun, CEO of autonomous driving startup Code42 and the second keynote speaker, stated that to expand the mobility industry, an ecosystem must be established where numerous industries such as electric vehicles, batteries, and IoT (Internet of Things) can converge. “To create a city where people want to live, all players involved in the mobility sector must have an ecosystem to thrive in,” he said, specifically highlighting ‘C.A.S.E (Connected, Autonomous, Shared, Electric).”

CEO Song explained, “Everything must be connected, autonomous or automated machines must communicate with each other, and the value of the sharing economy must be realized simultaneously. Also, the emergence of electric vehicles powered solely by electricity and various delivery robots will be key areas enriching the mobility ecosystem.”

Park Sung-kyu, Head of Hyundai Motor Global Management Research Institute, who participated in the discussion, also emphasized, “Unlike in the past, an open innovation system called open innovation is essential for future mobility. Looking at recent battery meetings between Hyundai Motor Group and Samsung, LG, and SK, cooperation among large corporations will become more frequent.”