Gwangju City Launches Demonstration and Commercialization of Gwangju Unmanned Special Vehicles

On the morning of the 28th, Lee Yong-seop, Mayor of Gwangju Metropolitan City, signed a business agreement for the Gwangju Unmanned Low-Speed Special Vehicle Demonstration Project at the City Hall Business Room with Lee Nak-gyu, President of the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, Yoon Hong-sik, CEO of AM Special Vehicle Co., Ltd., Choi Jong-seok, CEO of Fine Special Vehicle Co., Ltd., Kim Kyung-soo, CEO of IMR Co., Ltd., and Kim Jong-min, Head of Jointree Co., Ltd., and then took a commemorative photo. Photo by Gwangju Metropolitan City

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City has initiated the demonstration and commercialization of unmanned special-purpose vehicles in Gwangju.

On the 28th, Gwangju City announced that it signed a business agreement with five organizations including the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, AM Special Purpose Vehicle Co., Fine Special Purpose Vehicle Co., IMR Co., and Jointree Co. to establish a high value-added special-purpose vehicle industry ecosystem and create jobs in the region through the demonstration and early commercialization of Gwangju unmanned low-speed special-purpose vehicles.

Gwangju City is promoting the establishment of a Gwangju-type job complete vehicle factory and, as a complete vehicle production city, possesses regional characteristics such as diverse industrial infrastructure, parts companies, and support policies. It has been highly evaluated for having optimal conditions to flexibly respond to future industries through convergence with artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and information and communication technology (ICT), and was selected in November last year for the Ministry of SMEs and Startups’ 2nd Regulatory Free Zone project.

The Gwangju unmanned low-speed special-purpose vehicle demonstration project involves a total of 18 businesses, including four external businesses, participating in seven zones (16.79㎢) centered on Pyeongdong Industrial Complex, Suwan District, and Uchi Park. The project consists of two parts: public service demonstration using unmanned low-speed special-purpose vehicles that move autonomously without drivers, and the establishment and demonstration of an edge-type (terminal-type) data system for the utilization and sharing of data collected by unmanned public information data collection vehicles.

For the unmanned special-purpose vehicle demonstration for public services, AM Special Purpose Vehicle Co. is responsible for unmanned road surface cleaning vehicles, Fine Special Purpose Vehicle Co. for industrial complex unmanned household waste collection vehicles, IMR Co. for residential unmanned household waste collection vehicles, and Jointree Co. for unmanned public information (fine dust, potholes, traffic information, etc.) collection vehicles. They will develop customized vehicles and the necessary hardware and software, with demonstrations scheduled for October.

The edge-type public information data collection and sharing demonstration will aggregate and process information collected through the four unmanned special-purpose vehicle demonstrations and provide it to institutions or companies. Facilities will be established within the Honam Headquarters of the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology to carry out this project.

Additionally, based on the demonstration project, special zone businesses will actively invest for early commercialization, and technological cooperation between the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology and Gwangju City, as well as administrative and financial support, will be organically coordinated.

Lee Nak-gyu, President of the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, stated, “Through this project, Gwangju City will lead the future growth-driven automobile industry, and by building a system together with the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology that covers unmanned automobile parts development, testing and evaluation, and consumer-linked services, we will do our best to enhance the technology and capabilities of automobile-related small and medium enterprises in the region.”

Yoon Hong-sik, CEO of AM Special Purpose Vehicle Co., along with representatives of the business agreement, said, “Through the development and demonstration of core technologies for future unmanned autonomous special-purpose vehicles, we will promptly achieve commercialization and create new industries, laying the foundation for innovative growth of regional industries and new job creation.”

Mayor Lee Yong-seop stated, “The unmanned low-speed special-purpose vehicle regulatory free zone project is expected to serve as an opportunity to promote innovative growth of local parts companies and strengthen global competitiveness,” and added, “We will do our best to create future new growth engines through the establishment and fostering of an autonomous driving-based high value-added special-purpose vehicle industry ecosystem.”