Seongnam City Selected for Ministry of Land's "Smart City Regulatory Sandbox" Project Competition

Verification of Autonomous Electric Vehicle Charging Robots Begins
First Commercialization Attempt in Korea

Seongnam City in Gyeonggi Province (Mayor: Shin Sangjin) will be the first in Korea to implement a pilot project for autonomous electric vehicle charging robots, aiming to establish next-generation charging infrastructure.

An image depicting the charging process of an autonomous electric vehicle charging robot. Provided by Seongnam City.

The city announced on the 19th that its "Smart Address-Based Autonomous Electric Vehicle Charging Robot Infrastructure" project has been selected as a final winner in the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's "2025 Smart City Regulatory Sandbox" competition.

As a result, the Seongnam-based company EVA Consortium will receive 495 million won in national funding to conduct a demonstration of robot-based autonomous electric vehicle charging services at Seongnam City's public parking lots until September 2027.

The "Smart City Regulatory Sandbox" is a program that provides institutional support, such as regulatory exemptions and demonstration project funding, enabling local governments to collaborate with companies and organizations to test new technologies and services.

This pilot project is expected to overcome previous limitations, where mobile electric vehicle charging devices faced difficulties in commercialization due to fire and electrical safety regulations.

With this technology, when a vehicle owner connects the charging gun in a parking lot, the robot autonomously moves, docks with the dispenser, and charges the vehicle using a contactless method. If this verification leads to successful commercialization of autonomous electric vehicle charging robots, it is expected to significantly reduce the initial investment costs required to establish charging stations.

A Seongnam City official stated, "By collaborating with local companies to improve regulations and support pilot projects, we will expand the smart mobility industry ecosystem and make significant contributions to the commercialization of related technologies and businesses."

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