"Will Contactless Services Accelerate?" ... 'Autonomous Driving Mobility' Demonstration Begins in Earnest

Seoul City and 9 Companies and Universities Hold Kick-off Ceremony on the 12th
Experience Autonomous Shuttle Bus, Shared Vehicles, Valet Parking, Delivery Robots, and More

Conceptual diagram of a self-driving valet parking vehicle that autonomously finds empty parking spaces.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] On the 12th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government will hold a launch ceremony at Sangam Culture Square to mark the start of the 'Autonomous Driving Mobility Demonstration' in collaboration with Mapo-gu, Seoul Institute of Technology, and nine private companies and universities.

Key figures attending the event include Hwang Bo-yeon, Director of Urban Transportation at Seoul City, Yoo Dong-gyun, Mayor of Mapo-gu, Ko In-seok, Director of Seoul Institute of Technology, along with representatives from seven autonomous driving-related companies such as LG Uplus, Unmanned Solution, Control Works, Dogu Gonggan, SML, Automos, Spring Cloud, and representatives from nine institutions including Yonsei University and Hanyang University.

The companies and universities participating in this autonomous driving mobility demonstration were selected through projects such as 'Testbed Seoul,' which supports the industrialization of innovative companies' products and services.

The 'autonomous driving mobility' showcased at the launch ceremony is not a temporary trial run of vehicles equipped with autonomous driving functions, but a mobility service where citizens can directly use the vehicles on actual urban roads and experience changes in their daily lives.

Specifically, it includes ▲ an untact (contactless) shared vehicle service that can be summoned anytime and anywhere via mobile without a license or private car and used to reach destinations ▲ valet parking where the vehicle autonomously finds parking lots and empty spaces with a single smartphone touch, solving parking worries ▲ small shuttle buses circulating the area to transport vulnerable groups ▲ delivery robots that transport goods to desired locations even in areas inaccessible to vehicles.

For the mobility demonstration, the city will deploy 10 autonomous vehicles in the Sangam area, including 3 buses, 4 passenger cars, and 3 delivery robots, conducting demonstrations on uncontrolled, complex urban roads.

Starting as early as the 16th of next month, the city plans to allow citizens to use the autonomous shuttle buses circulating the Sangam area for free through applications, enabling direct experience of autonomous driving mobility. Additionally, shared vehicles, valet parking, and delivery robots will be open for public recruitment of citizen experience groups, providing opportunities for citizens to directly use and evaluate the services in a 'citizen participation experience' format.

The city also plans to use this launch ceremony as momentum to commercialize urban autonomous driving mobility ahead of the world and to establish 'untact (contactless) mobility' early on to minimize contact in preparation for the post-COVID era. This will accelerate future transportation innovation and industrial support based on autonomous driving, where all modes of transport can be summoned and used via mobile without drivers, minimizing human contact.

Hwang Bo-yeon, Director of Urban Transportation at Seoul City, stated, "Future transportation is not just about autonomous vehicles running in the city, but about realizing the freedom of movement without discrimination for all citizens, including those without licenses and the mobility-impaired, freeing citizens from driving and accidents, and providing comfort and safety in their lives."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.