The public and private sectors have joined hands to guarantee mobility rights for residents in areas with many elderly people and insufficient public transportation.
Hyundai Motor Company announced on the 14th that it has signed a business agreement with the National Police Agency and the Korea Association of Mayors, County Governors, and District Heads to ensure traffic safety and mobility rights for the elderly. This agreement is considered meaningful as it establishes practical measures to guarantee safe mobility rights for elderly drivers in transportation-disadvantaged areas and addresses regulations on voluntary surrender of driver's licenses.
In rural and fishing villages, where transportation is limited, the aging of residents is progressing rapidly. Even if elderly drivers wish to voluntarily surrender their driver's licenses, the lack of suitable alternative transportation results in a low license surrender rate.
Accordingly, Hyundai Motor plans to expand the introduction of its demand-responsive transportation platform, "Shucle," to guarantee mobility rights for transportation-vulnerable groups. Under the agreement, the National Police Agency will promote increasing budgets for local governments that introduce demand-responsive buses as part of the project to encourage voluntary surrender of licenses by elderly drivers.
The Korea Association of Mayors, County Governors, and District Heads will assist local governments in establishing policy foundations to introduce demand-responsive buses and expand pilot operations. Hyundai Motor will provide consulting and human and material resources, including pilot operation vehicles, to support local governments in adopting the Shucle service.
The Shucle platform generates optimal travel routes based on an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm tailored to passenger demand. The company explained that by flexibly changing routes in real time, convenient mobility is possible even in rural areas with limited access to public transportation.
Cho Jae-gu, Chairman of the Korea Association of Mayors, County Governors, and District Heads (from the left), Jo Ji-ho, Commissioner of the National Police Agency, and Kim Dong-wook, Vice Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, are taking a commemorative photo after the signing ceremony on the 14th. [Photo by Hyundai Motor Group]
Cho Ji-ho, Commissioner of the National Police Agency, said, "Starting with this business agreement, we expect that sufficient mobility support in transportation-disadvantaged areas will lead to the prevention of traffic accidents by guaranteeing mobility rights for the elderly." He added, "This will be an opportunity to shift the paradigm from regulation-centered policies for elderly drivers to a policy recipient-centered approach."
Kim Dong-wook, Vice President of Hyundai Motor, said, "As a leading company in future mobility, we participated in this agreement to fulfill our social responsibility toward transportation-vulnerable groups and underserved areas." Jo Jae-gu, Chairman of the Korea Association of Mayors, County Governors, and District Heads, said, "The issue of population extinction and aging in rural local governments is an urgent mission that cannot be delayed any longer," adding, "We will spare no support and cooperation to resolve this."
Hyundai Motor's Shucle platform has been operating demand-responsive service vehicles in 45 regions, including Sejong City, since February 2020.
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