[2022 Green Mobility Awards] Mobility Innovation Award 'Kakao Mobility'

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] Kakao Mobility received the Mobility Innovation Award at the ‘2022 Korea Green Mobility Awards’ hosted by Asia Economy and sponsored by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Environment on the 26th.

Kakao Mobility was recognized for expanding the concept of mobility by implementing the movement of services and objects beyond human transportation through ‘Kakao T,’ the largest Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) platform in Korea used by 30 million people. It also stood out prominently in future mobility areas such as autonomous driving and Urban Air Mobility (UAM).

Utilizing the Kakao T platform operation technology and its own autonomous driving technology, Kakao Mobility, together with Autonomous A2Z, launched Korea’s first platform-based paid autonomous driving service in Sejong City in December 2020. Last month, it took a step closer to commercializing autonomous driving by starting a free autonomous vehicle pilot service in Pangyo, Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province using its own technology.

It is also demonstrating capabilities in the platooning domain of large freight vehicle autonomous driving. Since 2018, it has participated in the national project ‘Development of V2X-based Freight Vehicle Platooning Operation Technology’ led by the Korea Expressway Corporation. Kakao Mobility established a tablet application specialized for freight vehicle drivers and a platform server for platooning, laying the foundation for technology commercialization.

Kakao Mobility is also leading the establishment of the domestic autonomous driving ecosystem. In September 2020, it launched the ‘KM Autonomous Driving Alliance’ with companies possessing autonomous driving technology. It is providing partners with a software development kit (SDK) that can link the Kakao T platform to autonomous driving systems of other manufacturers. Additionally, it is preparing for the ‘advancement and commercialization of a Korean-style UAM model’ in collaboration with global UAM aircraft manufacturer Volocopter.

Last month, Kakao Mobility established a strategic cooperation system with GS Retail. By combining autonomous driving and platooning technologies with GS Retail’s store network and logistics infrastructure, they plan to accelerate the commercialization of next-generation logistics technology.

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