Government to Lift Delivery Robot Regulations...Removal of On-site Personnel Accompaniment Requirement

Ministry of Industry to Amend Additional Conditions for Demonstration Exceptions
Delivery Robots Can Operate Without On-Site Personnel
Government to Also Proceed with Amendment of Intelligent Robot Act

Outdoor delivery robot 'Dilly' by Woowa Brothers, the operator of Baedal Minjok.
[Photo by Woowa Brothers]

[Asia Economy Sejong=Reporter Lee Junhyung] The government will remove the mandatory condition that on-site personnel must accompany delivery robots that have received demonstration exceptions.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 28th that it has completed consultations with the Office for Government Policy Coordination and the National Police Agency to allow outdoor autonomous driving robots to be operated through remote control without on-site personnel. The ministry plans to proceed with administrative procedures to change the additional conditions of the demonstration exception under the Industrial Convergence Regulatory Sandbox operation regulations to eliminate the obligation of on-site personnel accompaniment.

Once the change of additional conditions is completed, robot companies capable of full remote control can designate a remote manager as the delivery robot's responsible manager. This means that one remote manager can comprehensively manage multiple delivery robots instead of several on-site personnel.

The removal of the additional condition requiring on-site personnel to accompany delivery robots during operation reflects the government's response to the difficulties faced by the robotics industry. Initially, even if robot companies received government demonstration exceptions, they faced challenges in increasing the number of operating robots and securing big data due to the additional condition that one on-site personnel must accompany each delivery robot deployed on-site. In response, Prime Minister Han Deoksoo visited the autonomous driving robot company Robotis located in Magok, Seoul, in June and promised regulatory relaxation.

The government intends to further improve regulations through legal amendments. A Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy official stated, "We will also promptly proceed with the revision of the Intelligent Robots Act to ensure that outdoor autonomous driving robot services can be provided to the public as soon as possible."