"Welcoming Regulatory Easing for Autonomous Driving... Unmanned Vehicles to Be Commercialized by 2027"

Government Unveils Measures to Strengthen Autonomous Vehicle Industry
Original Video Footage Now Permitted, Manual Driving Switch No Longer Required
"Most Autonomous Driving Companies Are Small... Profitable Business Models Needed"

The autonomous driving industry has welcomed the government's announcement on November 26 of measures to enhance the competitiveness of the autonomous vehicle sector. Finished vehicle manufacturers also noted that regulations, which had previously hampered technological development, have now been resolved. Until now, domestic autonomous driving technology had been assessed as lagging behind the United States and China due to regulatory barriers, but there is now growing optimism that the pace of development will accelerate.

Kim Gihyuk, CEO of SWM, which operates late-night robotaxis in Gangnam, Seoul, said, "The most significant aspect is that it is now possible to collect and utilize original video footage," adding, "We can now save the time previously spent on pseudonymizing data and focus more on artificial intelligence (AI) training."

He continued, "To demonstrate autonomous driving across an entire city, not only are dedicated graphic processing units (GPUs) necessary, but the number of vehicles on the road is also crucial. For a city with a population of one million, at least 500 vehicles are needed," he said. "Since billions of won are required not only for vehicle development and manufacturing, but also for operations, continuous and active investment is essential," he added.

SWM, an autonomous driving company, operates late-night autonomous taxis in Gangnam, Seoul. SWM

SWM, which has been operating robotaxis free of charge in partnership with Seoul City since September last year, is set to begin daytime robotaxi operations starting next month. As more data must be collected and analyzed during the day than at night, expectations are high for the recent regulatory easing.

Utilizing original video footage has been a major challenge for autonomous driving, which must study, analyze, and predict a variety of road situations. Predicting and determining whether a pedestrian will cross the street or stop requires information such as the direction of their gaze or face. However, due to privacy protection, faces have been blurred, making it impossible to obtain such information.

Hyundai Motor Company also commented that the pathway to utilizing video data for future autonomous driving technology development has now opened. A Hyundai official stated, "Unlike in the United States, we have faced obstacles in utilizing video footage domestically, but with the lifting of these regulations, we will be able to advance our technology."

'Autonomous Driving Bus (Dongjak A01) for Local Mobility in Dongjak District' operated by the autonomous driving company SUM. Seoul City

SUM, which is focused on autonomous driving buses, welcomed the removal of regulations related to remote driving. Hyun Youngjin, CEO of SUM, said, "To operate fully unmanned autonomous vehicles, remote control is necessary to prepare for emergencies such as accidents. Currently, remote driving is only permitted for parking, but once the law is established next year, it will give a boost to the operation of autonomous driving services."

SUM, together with Kia and Socar, will conduct a demonstration project on November 27 in Jeju Island to advance mobility services using remote driving technology. This technology will first be applied to car sharing services on Jeju Island to streamline vehicle deployment and retrieval processes and improve user convenience. The government is working to establish special remote control regulations by the first half of next year.

Rideflux Car Sharing Service Vehicle

Rideflux, which will launch a fully unmanned autonomous car sharing service next year, also welcomed the regulatory easing. A Rideflux representative explained, "The removal of the requirement to switch to manual driving in protected zones for vulnerable road users will be a significant help in moving toward fully unmanned autonomous driving without safety personnel. Previously, we had to either avoid these zones or always have a safety officer on board, which posed challenges for development."

However, it was also pointed out that not only regulatory easing, but also expanding the autonomous driving market to ensure companies can generate sustained profits, is important.

Cho Sunghwan, President of the Korea Autonomous Driving Industry Association, said, "Having vehicles actually operating on the roads is the best way to accelerate the commercialization of autonomous driving in Korea. It is important to expand pilot operation zones and increase the number of vehicles in operation. Since most autonomous driving companies are currently small, a structure is needed in which large corporations participate in vehicle manufacturing and operation, and companies must be able to develop profitable business models through robotaxis or buses," he said.

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