[New Wave] Autonomous Driving Becomes a Reality in Korea

[Asia Economy] The era in which autonomous driving, once confined to imagination, is now becoming a reality in our daily lives has arrived. Overseas, full-scale autonomous driving services began several years ago. Google Waymo has been operating a commercial autonomous driving service in Phoenix, Arizona since December 2018. China's Baidu and Didi Chuxing recently launched robo-taxi services in Beijing and Shanghai, respectively.

On the 18th of last month, a significant event occurred in the history of autonomous driving in South Korea. Kakao Mobility, a leading domestic mobility platform, together with the autonomous driving startup Autonomous A2Z, began a commercial autonomous driving service in Sejong City.

This autonomous driving service is notable for being the first 'platform'-based 'paid' service in South Korea. 'Paid' means it is a full-fledged service charging consumers, fundamentally different from previous event-style trial experiences. This indicates that autonomous driving technology has stabilized. Being platform-based is also an important feature. No matter how good an autonomous vehicle is, it is useless if it is not connected to consumers. The Sejong service allows users to reserve and call vehicles through the Kakao T app, which has 27 million subscribers. Payments are automatically settled via pre-registered payment methods in the app.

Kakao Mobility initially launched the service around the Government Complex Sejong area. Currently, it is a limited service for about 100 people on the whitelist, with only two vehicles in operation. However, they plan to gradually expand the service area while monitoring operational progress. In particular, they intend to actively utilize mobility data from Kakao Navi, Kakao T Taxi, and others to expand the operation zone. The goal is to establish this not as a service people try out of curiosity once or twice, but as a practical alternative for transportation.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport selected six regions last November where paid autonomous driving services are permitted to promote the activation of autonomous driving services. Some areas in Seoul, Osong, Sejong, Daegu, Gwangju, and Jeju were designated. Service types vary, including shuttles, taxis, cleaning vehicles, and waste collection vehicles. Additional applications from other local governments are expected this year. Various forms of autonomous driving services will emerge nationwide. Kakao Mobility is preparing to launch services in other cities following Sejong.

Our government views autonomous driving as an important future growth engine and plans to actively foster it. Last November, it announced a revision of the temporary autonomous vehicle operation permit, establishing requirements to enable services such as autonomous shuttles without driver seats and unmanned delivery robots without passengers. In December, it released three guidelines on ethics, security, and safety directions for autonomous vehicles, steadily preparing ethical and safety policies for the forthcoming autonomous driving era.

Starting this year, a cross-ministerial autonomous driving technology development innovation project worth 1.1 trillion won will commence. This project, jointly promoted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the National Police Agency, will prepare for the advancement of autonomous vehicles and services and the creation of an autonomous driving ecosystem over the next seven years. The government plans to leap forward as a leading country in the future car sector through this project. The autonomous driving era is now opening in Korea. Although there is still a long way to go, the first full-fledged step has been taken. We hope autonomous driving technology will establish itself as a new growth engine for us in the post-COVID era.

Jaeho Lee, Director of Kakao Mobility Digital Economy Research Institute