Kakao Mobility Discusses Enhancing Military Competitiveness with Armed Forces Transport Command

Major General Lee Jeong-hwi (left) of the Republic of Korea Army Transportation Command and Ryu Geung-seon, CEO of Kakao Mobility (right), posing for a commemorative photo after the Kakao Mobility autonomous driving demonstration. Photo by Kakao Mobility

Kakao Mobility announced on the 15th that the command of the Republic of Korea Army Transportation Command visited the Kakao Mobility headquarters in Pangyo to discuss “ways to support military transportation and strengthen security competitiveness based on mobility technology.”

The Republic of Korea Army Transportation Command is a Ministry of National Defense direct functional command responsible for overseeing military transportation support and providing transportation necessary for joint and combined operations. The visit was attended by the command leadership including Brigadier General Lee Jeong-hwi, Colonel Kim Dong-hyun, Director of Land Transportation Jo Ki-ho, and Planning Director Song Seung-jun, who explored how future mobility technologies such as autonomous driving, platooning, and UAM can contribute to enhancing military competitiveness.

At the meeting, both sides agreed that the importance of military informatization and automation transformation has increased globally, making it crucial to secure domestic IT and mobility technologies. In particular, they planned to establish a long-term cooperation system as the development of cutting-edge AI engines like generative AI is essential for advancing military transportation information.

First, since transportation support is a primary role of the transportation command, discussions on improving military logistics efficiency were prioritized. Based on Kakao Mobility’s successful demonstration of platform technology for autonomous platooning operation of large freight vehicles?including connecting multiple vehicles, managing entry and exit vehicles, and route guidance?they proposed ways to improve military personnel utilization efficiency through platooning technology when deployed in military transportation operations. This approach not only reduces transportation command costs but also significantly lowers the risk of accidents that may increase during prolonged operations in national logistics emergencies.

The “importance of mobility connectivity” was also a key agenda item. Due to the nature of military units located in transportation-disadvantaged areas, military transportation tasks and troop movements often occur inefficiently because key points are not connected. Therefore, seamless mobility support specialized for the military is needed for tasks such as delivery of items for critical equipment repairs and business trips between military units. They agreed to continue discussions on ways to immediately apply Kakao Mobility’s fully developed MaaS system capabilities to this need.

Additionally, discussions were held on potential cooperation in areas such as the current status of civilian adoption of autonomous driving technology, commercialization of UAM emerging as a new core technology in global military competitiveness and its vision for military transportation support, and ways to enhance mobility convenience based on platform technology to improve soldier welfare.

Officials from the Republic of Korea Army Transportation Command who experienced Kakao Mobility’s autonomous driving service operating in Pangyo stated, “Autonomous vehicles that integrate, analyze, and control sensor information such as LiDAR, radar, and cameras are highly likely to be utilized as strategic defense resources. Since remote control centers play a crucial role in monitoring and responding to unmanned autonomous driving services, Kakao Mobility’s self-developed digital twin-based autonomous driving control system is expected to play a very important role in the future.”

Ryu Geung-seon, CEO of Kakao Mobility, said, “While the global influence of overseas big tech companies receiving full support from their governments is expanding day by day, we also possess competitiveness across all mobility technology areas including autonomous driving, digital twin, and generative AI. As a domestic platform, we will strive to maintain autonomy and contribute to the informatization and advancement of our military.”

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