Cheonggyecheon Autonomous Bus Extended Operation to Gwangjang Market

Temporary Suspension of Cheongwadae Autonomous Bus Service

Seoul City announced on the 6th that the Cheonggyecheon autonomous shuttle bus, which circulates through the downtown area, will extend its route to Gwangjang Market (Cheonggye 5-ga, total 4.8km) after safety verification and will begin operation.

So far, the Cheonggyecheon autonomous shuttle buses (3 units) have been circulating from Cheonggye Square to Sewoon Sangga (total 3.2km) since November 25. Seoul City stated that over the past year, the Cheonggyecheon autonomous shuttle buses completed 3,894 laps on the 3.2km route, serving a total of 4,027 passengers including citizens and foreigners. The total driving distance reached 12,461 km.

The newly extended section to Gwangjang Market is a challenging area for autonomous driving due to frequent jaywalking pedestrians and motorcycle traffic. The city decided to extend the route, judging that autonomous driving technology has been secured through repeated operations so far.

Meanwhile, the nation's first large electric autonomous shuttle bus circulating around Cheongwadae will temporarily cease operation on the 9th. The city plans to resume autonomous shuttle bus operations from March next year after conducting an internal inspection of the autonomous driving system.

The autonomous vehicle limited transport license public contest, which has been ongoing since October this year, targets a total of six autonomous vehicle pilot operation zones (Sangam, Gangnam, Cheonggyecheon, Cheongwadae, Yeouido, and Jungangcharo) and will accept applications until the 30th of this month. Afterwards, licenses will be issued step-by-step through document review → safety driving capability verification → committee deliberation procedures.

Yoon Jong-jang, Director of Urban Transportation at Seoul City, said, “The Cheonggyecheon and Cheongwadae autonomous shuttle buses were launched to provide convenient and safe transportation services to tourists visiting Cheonggyecheon and Cheongwadae,” adding, “We will actively utilize the autonomous driving data accumulated by Seoul City so far to continuously expand autonomous shuttle bus services.”

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