"South Korea Must Unify 'Communication Standards' to Secure Competitiveness in Autonomous Vehicles"

Federation of Korean Industries, 1st Korea-US Digital Economy Cooperation Forum

[Asia Economy Reporter Dongwoo Lee] There is a call for the government to promptly unify the 'Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X)' standards in order for South Korea to secure early competitiveness in the global autonomous vehicle market.

Vehicle-to-Everything communication refers to cars exchanging information with other vehicles, mobile devices, roads, and other objects through wired and wireless networks, and is one of the key elements of autonomous vehicle infrastructure.

The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) held the '1st Korea-US Digital Economy Cooperation Forum' on the 8th at the FKI Conference Center in Yeouido, Seoul, jointly with the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea, discussing 'International Trends in Autonomous Driving Technology Standards and Korea-US Cooperation Measures.'

In his welcoming remarks, Kwon Tae-shin, Vice Chairman of FKI, said, "The current size of the autonomous vehicle market is less than $10 billion (about 11 trillion KRW), but it is expected to expand to $1 trillion (about 1,100 trillion KRW) by 2035," adding, "Recently, discussions on communication technology standards connecting vehicles and surrounding objects have been active."

He emphasized, "While major countries such as the United States and China are finalizing autonomous driving-related technology standards one after another, the Korean government must quickly establish a framework that aligns with global standards so that our companies can respond swiftly." In fact, China unified its V2X standards in 2018, and the United States did so this year.

Won-chul Lee, Dean of the IT College and Graduate School of Information Science at Soongsil University, explained in his keynote presentation, "The 'C-V2X' technology, which integrates 5th generation mobile communication (5G) cellular technology with V2X, a wireless communication method between vehicles and objects, has many advantages over the existing Wi-Fi-based Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC)."

Dean Lee advised, "Although several countries including South Korea have adopted DSRC in pilot and demonstration projects for next-generation intelligent transportation systems, it is necessary to objectively review whether this technology standard aligns with future trends and global movements rather than expanding it to national infrastructure solely for that reason."

Meanwhile, the forum was attended by related ministries such as the Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, academia, and companies including Hanwha Defense, LG Uplus, Kakao Mobility, Qualcomm, 3M, and Visteon.

Kim Bong-man, Director of International Cooperation at FKI, said, "The global autonomous vehicle market is currently in a Warring States period with no absolute dominant player, making it the optimal time for the Korean autonomous driving industry to leap forward," adding, "The government must boldly reform regulations that could hinder technological progress and commercialization of autonomous driving and strive to establish related standards."

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