Completion of the Third Phase of K-City Advancement
New Infrastructure and Support for Autonomous Driving Technology Development
The Korea Transportation Safety Authority announced on the 30th that it has completed the third phase of the advanced development project for K-City, a dedicated performance testing ground for autonomous driving. It is located in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, as one of the affiliated facilities of the Automobile Safety Research Institute under the Authority.
It was first introduced in 2018 as a space that reproduces various traffic situations to develop autonomous driving-related technologies. From the following year until 2022, during the second phase of advancement, facilities such as a weather environment simulation system that recreates artificial rain and fog, a communication shadow facility that blocks GPS signals, and a tenant-type convenience facility called the Future Innovation Center were added.
Through the third phase of advancement carried out from 2022 to this year, new infrastructure such as three-dimensional intersections, alleyways, and autonomous parking buildings were added. An integrated object-based environment was also established to provide an environment similar to actual pedestrians, along with a simulation experiment toolchain to implement more diverse scenarios in a virtual environment. The Authority expects these to be helpful in developing or verifying autonomous driving technologies.
K-City Weather Environment Reproduction Facility capable of simulating artificial rain and fog. Provided by Korea Transportation Safety Authority
K-City has been used as a hub to support technology development for domestic early-stage and small and medium-sized enterprises. Supported by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the facilities have been provided free of charge since 2019. Over the past five years, companies have utilized the facilities for 28,815 hours, which is valued at over 10.3 billion KRW.
The Future Innovation Center, which private companies can use as office space, currently houses 10 companies. This year, a total of 12 companies are expected to move in. Opportunities for collaboration among resident companies will also arise. Additionally, in connection with the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s K-Testbed project, performance certificates for new technologies or prototypes are issued.
This helps companies register with the Public Procurement Service’s technology market or register as innovative products, thereby opening public institution sales channels. In January of this year, together with Intuspace, a GPS location provision system inside tunnels was developed using the weather environment simulation facility, and its performance evaluation and technology market registration were completed.
Jung Yong-sik, Chairman of the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, said, "We will nurture and verify technologies with high commercialization potential for private companies to help them successfully enter the global market," adding, "We will continue to advance the technology support and verification system so that Korea can lead the commercialization of fully autonomous driving."
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