Valet Parking with HL Mando's Parking Robot 'Paki' at Incheon Airport

Incheon International Airport Corporation and HL Mando MOU... Demonstration Project Promotion

On the 4th, at the parking robot testbed near the aircraft maintenance hangar of Incheon International Airport, Lee Hak-jae, President of Incheon International Airport Corporation (second from the left), is watching a demonstration of the parking robot during the 'Autonomous Driving-Based Parking Robot Joint Research Agreement Ceremony.' (Photo by Incheon International Airport Corporation)

At Incheon International Airport, HL Mando, a subsidiary of HL Group specializing in electric vehicles and autonomous driving solutions, will begin a pilot project to introduce a valet parking robot developed by HL Mando. On the 5th, Incheon International Airport Corporation announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with HL Mando the previous day for a 'joint research on autonomous driving-based parking robots.' Accordingly, they plan to jointly research tasks in the parking robot field and carry out proof of concept (PoC) projects. Initially, from October, verification work will be conducted at a parking robot test site established in the event parking lot of Terminal 2 at Incheon Airport. Based on the verification results, application plans will also be formulated. Accordingly, starting in October, HL Mando's valet parking robot 'Paki' will be operated in a pilot program at Incheon International Airport. Based on the research outcomes obtained through the pilot, they plan to proceed to actual commercialization. This will be the first case of applying autonomous parking robots in large-scale public facilities such as airports. Valet parking is a service where parking is done on behalf of customers at department stores, restaurants, hotels, and so on. HL Mando's Paki is equipped with Level 4 autonomous driving technology, recognizing surrounding obstacles, driving paths, tires, license plates, and more, while independently judging the distance between wheels and the vehicle's center of gravity. With a height of only 9 cm, it can enter under most vehicles and can lift and move up to 3 tons. The corporation expects that the introduction of parking robots will reduce the space needed for passenger boarding and alighting, increasing the number of vehicles that can be parked in the same parking area by more than 30%. Additionally, it is anticipated to save parking time and resolve related complaints, thereby improving passenger satisfaction. "We will enhance passenger satisfaction and complete a new digital airport different from the existing one," the corporation stated.