Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Revises Regulations for Level 3 Autonomous Vehicle Temporary Operation Permits

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced that it will revise the temporary operation permit regulations to activate test drives of shuttles without driver seats and unmanned autonomous vehicles without passengers, and to support the mass production of Level 3 autonomous vehicles.

The temporary operation permit system allows autonomous vehicles that meet minimum safety operation requirements to conduct test drives on roads to support the development of autonomous driving technology. So far, 119 vehicles from 41 organizations have been granted permits.

However, the current regulations assume that autonomous vehicles have the same form as traditional vehicles and impose an obligation for a driver to be on board, causing inconvenience such as requiring separate special review procedures for new types of vehicles to obtain permits.

Accordingly, the temporary operation permit system has been revised to subdivide autonomous vehicle types into autonomous vehicles of existing automobile form (Type A), autonomous vehicles without driver seats (Type B), and unmanned autonomous vehicles without passengers (Type C), and to establish customized permit requirements for each type.

The permit requirements applied to existing form autonomous vehicles (Type A) will be maintained, but for vehicles just before commercialization that meet Level 3 safety standards, the permit procedures will be simplified to allow test drives in the same form as sold to consumers by relaxing overlapping or similar safety standard regulations.

Type B autonomous vehicles without driver seats can receive temporary operation permits if they have customized requirements such as a button for occupants to stop the vehicle in emergencies, emergency control devices, and automatic stop functions in case of malfunction.

Unmanned autonomous vehicles (Type C), which could not be permitted under the current system, can now be permitted to operate on roads through temporary operation permits.

For Type C vehicles operating at low speeds below 10 km/h, if they submit a safety operation plan including a remote management and supervision system for test drivers, external emergency stop buttons for responding to emergencies, and measures to cope with traffic congestion, they can receive temporary operation permits.

If manufacturers with self-certification capabilities apply for temporary operation permits with a certain level of safety devices, they are allowed to conduct test drives while connected to trailers, etc.

Baek Seung-geun, Director of the Transportation and Logistics Office at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, “We are promoting large-scale research and development projects and various demonstrations to achieve the future car development strategy of the world’s first commercialization of Level 4 autonomous vehicles,” and added, “We expect that this improvement of the temporary operation permit system for autonomous vehicles will contribute to accelerating the development of autonomous driving technology.”

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