"Korea's Ecosystem as the Last Bastion... 'Minimum Barriers' Urgently Needed" [K-Autonomous Driving Losing Ground to China]

"We Need a Roadmap to Build Korea's Autonomous Driving Ecosystem"
Support Through Subsidies and Tax Benefits Is Essential
Calls for Public Assets Accessible to Small and Medium Enterprises

"First, we need to closely examine how foreign autonomous driving companies entering Korea manage data. We must ensure that our data is not simply taken away, leading to the collapse of our ecosystem."

Jaegwan Lee, Head of the AI and Autonomous Driving Division at the Korea Automotive Technology Institute, made these remarks in an interview with Asia Economy. He stated that it is difficult to block the entry of foreign autonomous driving companies into Korea, but emphasized that both government and industry-level checks and support are necessary to protect Korea's autonomous driving ecosystem.

Lee pointed out, "Even if the entry of foreign companies has positive aspects in terms of job creation or technological advancement, we still need to establish at least a minimum barrier to protect our autonomous driving ecosystem." He added, "We need to carefully consider companies that simply take our data while all development and personnel management are handled by their overseas headquarters."

Jaegwan Lee, Head of AI and Autonomous Driving Division, Korea Automotive Technology Institute. Photo by Korea Automotive Technology Institute

He also stressed the need for government-level support to foster a Korean-style autonomous driving ecosystem. He proposed providing subsidies or tax benefits to companies that develop solutions with domestic technology and create jobs locally.

Lee argued that, just as the government systematically supported the initial spread of electric vehicles, it should create a separate roadmap to drive the proliferation of autonomous vehicles. He said, "By creating an annual roadmap, we can encourage the spread of autonomous vehicles and provide subsidies and tax benefits to foster domestic companies. At the same time, we should exclude companies that simply import foreign technology and use our data from receiving subsidies as a way to keep them in check."

He also pointed out that Korea lacks standardized development software (SW) platforms or public hardware (HW) assets, and discussed ways to build an ecosystem by supporting autonomous vehicle development. Using China as an example, he argued that public assets should be established for joint use by small and medium-sized startups. In China, the government has created standardized public APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) and SW development kits for autonomous and software-defined vehicles (SDVs), opened them to the public, and accelerated autonomous vehicle development through strategic cooperation between automakers and autonomous driving solution companies.

Lee said, "In China, the government strategically matches solution providers with automakers and provides vehicle platform (HW) support, allowing them to focus solely on SW development. In contrast, Korean autonomous driving companies have to start from scratch, from vehicle modification to SW development, which not only increases development costs but also inevitably slows down their progress."