[THE VIEW]Smart Life Inside Autonomous Vehicles

Europeans Spend Three Years of Their Lives in Cars
Technologies for Efficient Use of Time Inside Vehicles Are Crucial

According to a survey by a French automobile company, Europeans spend an average of about four years of their lifetime inside vehicles. South Korea has the longest average commuting time among OECD countries. Therefore, it is estimated that Koreans spend more time inside vehicles than Europeans. Given this, technologies aimed at making time spent inside cars more efficient are likely to develop rapidly in some form. A key technology related to this is autonomous driving.

Competition over autonomous driving, unmanned vehicles, and taxi-related technologies is intense in several countries, including the United States and China. Companies such as Waymo, Uber, and Cruise are expanding pilot operations and testing, and unmanned taxi services are already operating in several cities like California and Arizona. In San Francisco, the world's first 24-hour unmanned taxi service has started, and companies including Tesla and Baidu are playing leading roles in developing autonomous driving technology, driving innovation.

Autonomous driving technology is causing changes in transportation systems and paradigms, with claims that it offers potential benefits such as reducing traffic accidents, improving travel efficiency, and lessening driving burdens. However, there are still challenges to overcome, including technical errors, insufficient legal regulations, and social acceptance issues. For example, in San Francisco, there have been reports of multiple unmanned taxis suddenly stopping on the road and obstructing ambulances transporting patients in emergencies.

What is clear so far is that autonomous driving technology alone cannot guarantee the success of unmanned vehicles and unmanned taxi services. For this technology to be successfully integrated into society, efforts are needed to address intertwined critical issues such as ensuring safety, regulatory reform, infrastructure development, and improving public perception. Additionally, safety concerns, hacking risks, and legal liability issues in case of accidents must be resolved, requiring cooperation among various stakeholders, continuous communication, and regulatory development to overcome these challenges.

Although there are negative views and skepticism about the completion of autonomous driving technology, there is a common recognition that its development is inevitable. South Korea aims to fully organize laws and systems related to autonomous driving starting this year and achieve a high level of automation (Level 4) close to commercialization by 2027. However, opinions are widespread that the domestic autonomous driving technology level still falls short of global competition, and key elements such as driving data and infrastructure are relatively lacking. Currently, the Autonomous Vehicle Act focuses on operation in specific areas and does not include important legal issues.

Ultimately, the development of autonomous driving technology and related regulations, as well as cooperation between the public and private sectors, will be crucial factors determining the core competitiveness of unmanned vehicle service commercialization. To meet global standards, it is necessary to expand regulatory sandboxes and support for technology development, strengthen testing under actual road conditions, accumulate data, and develop regulatory frameworks aligned with global standards. Furthermore, appropriate infrastructure and financial support need to be expanded to international levels.

Yunseok Son, Professor at the University of Notre Dame, USA

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