Seoul City Establishes 6 'Smart Poles' for Electric Vehicle Charging and Drones at 3 Locations Including Isu Intersection and Sinyongsan Station

Streetlights, CCTV, Wi-Fi, and Electric Vehicle Charging All at Once

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 1st that it has installed a total of six smarter ‘Smart Poles (S-Pole)’ at three locations: Isu Intersection, Sinyongsan Station, and the Seongbukdong-gil area.

The ‘Seoul Smart Pole’ not only performs the basic functions of road facilities but also provides public Wi-Fi, intelligent CCTV, Internet of Things (IoT), smart crosswalks, and more as a smart urban infrastructure. This time, electric vehicle charging capabilities and drone station technology that allows drones to be mounted and charged have been additionally applied.

The ‘Electric Vehicle Charging Smart Pole’ is a smart pole integrated with various smart functions such as a rapid charger that can complete charging within one hour on street lamps, closed-circuit television (CCTV), public Wi-Fi, and IoT. Four units have been installed in roadside parking lots: two at the Hangang-ro 2-ga-dong on-street public parking lot near Sinyongsan Station in Yongsan-gu, and two at the Simwoojang IoT parking lot on Seongbukdong-gil in Seongbuk-gu, allowing citizens to quickly and conveniently charge electric vehicles nearby.

The ‘Drone Smart Pole,’ which can accommodate and charge drones, has been installed twice in the Banpocheon area of Seocho-gu and will be used as a demonstration facility for improving traffic and safety using drones in the city. Station technology that allows drones to be mounted and charged has been applied to traffic monitoring poles that previously collected traffic information only with fixed cameras. By adding traffic information captured by mobile drones, it is reviewing the possibility of use as a support facility for more detailed identification of traffic congestion causes and improvements. Plans include demonstrating the use of drones for illegal parking enforcement and guidance tasks as well as providing citizen safety escort services.

Since the start of construction in 2020, the smart urban infrastructure ‘Smart Pole’ has been installed 149 times in areas such as Seoul Plaza, Cheonggyecheon, Sungnyemun, and Guro-gu. By the first half of this year, 131 smart poles will be installed in areas including Gangdong-gu, Jongno-gu, and Dongjak-gu, bringing the total to 280 smart poles throughout the city.

Park Jong-su, Director of Seoul’s Smart City Policy Division, said, “Smart Poles are smart infrastructure that not only perform the basic functions of road facilities such as street lamps but also provide smart city services necessary for citizens, such as electric vehicle charging and closed-circuit television (CCTV). We will continue to develop them as eco-friendly urban infrastructure that enhances citizen safety and convenience.”