Four Autonomous Shuttles to Operate in Osiria, Gijang Next Year in Second Half
LG Uplus Consortium Selected as Pilot Zone Developer
Creating a 15-Minute Public Transit-Friendly City and Realizing a Future Public Transport City
Busan Metropolitan City (Mayor Park Hyungjoon) announced on the 28th that it will operate an ‘autonomous shuttle bus’ in the Osiria Tourism Complex area, which has been designated as a pilot zone for autonomous vehicles in the second half of next year.
This project is being promoted to provide public transportation services using future mobility, in preparation for the government’s full-scale rollout of autonomous driving services and nationwide expansion of citizen-oriented services.
In November 2022, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport designated and announced the ‘Busan Osiria Tourism Complex area’ as a ‘pilot zone for autonomous vehicles.’ In response, the city enacted related ordinances for the operation of the pilot zone in December of the same year.
The city plans to invest a total project budget of 9.4 billion KRW (6.5 billion from the national government, 2.9 billion from the city) to operate four ‘autonomous shuttle buses’ on six roads (totaling 4.75 km) in the Osiria Tourism Complex area.
The ‘autonomous shuttle bus’ will operate on regular roads alongside general vehicles, with a test driver on board to ensure passenger safety and intervene when the system requests it.
On the operating routes, a precision map-based control platform and smart roads that collect and provide information on signal status, incidents, and pedestrians will be established to support the safe operation of the autonomous shuttle buses.
The autonomous bus service will be implemented after sufficient inspection through phased processes such as simulation, testbed, trial operation, and pilot operation, with the launch scheduled for the second half of 2025.
Meanwhile, through a competitive bidding process, the city selected the ‘LG Uplus Consortium’ as the project operator, which proposed an autonomous driving service as a public transportation system with experience, safety, and sustainability as its three key values.
The project will begin in July and, over a total of 18 months until December next year, will carry out overall tasks such as establishing infrastructure for autonomous driving services, pilot operations, and service operation in the Osiria Tourism Complex area.
Kwon Gihyuk, Director of the City’s Transportation Policy Division, stated, “We hope this project will not end as a pilot operation but will become a pillar of Busan’s public transportation in line with the public transport-friendly 15-minute policy, contributing to the realization of a future-oriented public transportation city.”
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