1,000 Autonomous Vehicles to Collect Data Across Cities Starting Next Year

Midterm Review of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s 2026 Budget Proposal in the National Assembly
Lee Proposes “Autonomous Driving Sandbox for Entire Mid-Sized Cities”
Presidential Proposal Not Reflected in 2026 Budget... Incr

The likelihood of a government project that would utilize entire small- and medium-sized cities with populations under 500,000 as testbeds for autonomous vehicles being launched in earnest next year has increased. Initially, there was no separate budget allocated by the government, but the National Assembly has decided to consider increasing the budget by more than 800 billion won.

This project was proposed by President Lee Jaemyung during a regulatory rationalization meeting in September. However, since the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which has jurisdiction over the project, did not include it in next year's budget proposal, there was speculation that, unlike the United States or China, the launch of a 'pilot city for autonomous driving' might be delayed until at least the year after next. If the proposal passes the plenary session as is, the project is expected to gain momentum.

According to the preliminary review report on the 2026 budget of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee on November 20, the committee has tentatively decided to increase the budget for the commercialization of autonomous vehicles to 827.3 billion won through preliminary and comprehensive reviews. The original purpose of this project was to provide operational funding to local governments and related companies operating and managing autonomous vehicle pilot zones for service demonstration. This year’s budget is about 9.4 billion won. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport initially submitted a similar-sized budget proposal to the National Assembly for next year.

The plan to designate entire cities as pilot zones, as proposed by the president, was not included. Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Yoonduk recently explained to the Special Committee on Budget and Accounts that it was difficult to reflect this in the budget due to regulatory issues involved in utilizing driving data.

In September, President Lee met with industry, academic, and research stakeholders in the autonomous driving sector and stated, "Let’s designate an entire mid-sized local city as an autonomous driving regulatory sandbox." Until now, only certain areas such as Cheonggyecheon or Gangnam in Seoul, the Pangyo Techno Valley area, and the vicinity of Gyeongju Bomun Tourist Complex, where the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit was held, have been designated as pilot operation zones, with autonomous vehicles allowed to operate only within these zones. The new proposal is to expand this to the scale of entire cities.

The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee determined that companies need vast amounts of driving data to refine autonomous driving technology. Believing it is necessary to gain broader experience with real road conditions, the committee allocated the budget. Leading companies in autonomous driving technology such as Waymo and Tesla in the United States, and Baidu in China, are collecting data from multiple cities. Tesla gathers real-world driving data through video footage from vehicles sold worldwide. In Austin, Texas, Tesla launched its robotaxi service in June this year. Baidu operates more than 1,000 robotaxis in 11 cities across China and is expanding robotaxi operations to regions in Europe and the Middle East as well.

The Waymo JiKe Robotaxi model, developed in collaboration with Chinese automaker Geely, is charging at a public charging station during testing before starting to expand its unmanned service on the 19th (local time) in San Diego, California, USA. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

In its preliminary review report, the committee stated, "If the project is implemented in small and medium-sized cities, it will be possible to collect more diverse and useful data than by collecting data only on specific sections or routes, enabling a demonstration project suitable for complex and variable road traffic conditions. It is necessary to consider conducting the pilot project on a citywide scale."

If the budget increase proposed by the committee is approved, 676.3 billion won will be invested solely in operating the demonstration cities. This will allow for the operation of 1,000 autonomous vehicles in five cities. By utilizing vehicle graphic processing units (GPUs), the establishment and processing of high-precision maps and driving data will become much easier. Separately, there are also plans to invest 128.6 billion won to build a dedicated artificial intelligence (AI) training center specialized for autonomous driving learning.

Meanwhile, the committee also decided to increase the budget for the multi-family purchase and lease sector of the Housing and Urban Fund by 495 billion won (total of loans and investments). The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport had originally estimated the purchase of about 5,000 unsold apartments in local areas, but the plan is to double this to 10,000 units. The intention is to provide these apartments as 'conversion-to-sale Ddeundeun Jeonse' units.

However, it remains uncertain whether this will pass the plenary session. In the case of Ddeundeun Jeonse, the rent is higher and the lease period is shorter compared to other public rental housing, so it has traditionally been less popular. The Special Committee on Budget and Accounts noted, "Even if the units are provided on the condition of conversion to sale, considering that these are unsold properties, it is unlikely that tenants will apply for conversion after six years of residence. There is a concern that the vacancy rate may be high, so the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport needs to pay close attention to inventory management."

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