Like Tesla: Automakers and Owners to Share Personal Vehicle Data (Comprehensive)

Economic Ministers’ and Growth Strategy Task Force Meeting
Discussion on Enhancing Competitiveness of Autonomous Vehicles
Collecting Vast, High-Quality Data Like the US and China
Designating Entire Cities as Autonomous Driving Demonstration Zones

Just as Tesla conducts autonomous driving research using data collected from vehicles it has sold, South Korean autonomous driving companies will also be able to utilize data generated from individual vehicles. There are also plans to designate entire cities as autonomous driving demonstration zones to facilitate large-scale data collection.

These measures are designed to enable the collection of vast amounts of data for the development of autonomous driving technology, similar to efforts in the United States and China, and are expected to serve as a catalyst for elevating South Korea’s technological capabilities. (See page 16 of the November 20 edition of The Asia Business Daily) On November 26, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and other relevant ministries held an Economic Ministers’ Meeting and Growth Strategy Task Force (TF) session to discuss these measures aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of the autonomous vehicle industry.

Tesla Model 3 driving through downtown LA. Photo by Yonhap News, Reuters

Like Tesla: Researching Autonomous Driving with Personal Vehicle Data

First, the government has decided to expand data collection, previously limited to vehicles used for demonstration and research and development, to include privately owned vehicles with the owner's consent. This opens the door to collecting a vast amount of high-quality data. Currently, there are only about 132 autonomous vehicles available for demonstration and R&D purposes in South Korea, resulting in limited data collection.

In contrast, American electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla collects real-time data from its vehicles with the owner's consent. Tesla has sold approximately 1.8 million vehicles worldwide, and the accumulated data volume is known to be enormous. The government also aims to enable more than 100 autonomous vehicles to operate, establishing a cooperative model that includes both large corporations and software startups.

Shin Donghoon, Professor at the Department of Artificial Intelligence at Korea Maritime and Ocean University, said, "If data is collected from personal vehicles, the volume of data that can be secured will increase immediately, but classifying such data and devising optimal utilization strategies will be a challenging task." He added, "For traditional OEMs like Hyundai Motor, whose vehicle development and production processes are complex, it will be necessary to overhaul the entire internal decision-making structure."

Starting next year, entire cities will be designated as "autonomous driving demonstration cities." This will significantly expand the areas where test autonomous vehicles can operate. In Phoenix, United States, the main testbed for Google's autonomous taxi service company Waymo, an area of 815 square kilometers has been designated for autonomous vehicle operation. This is larger than the area of Seoul (605.21 square kilometers), allowing autonomous vehicles to be tested over a wider region. Wuhan, China’s leading autonomous driving city, has designated an even larger area of 3,000 square kilometers.

In particular, amendments to the Personal Information Protection Act will allow the use of original, non-pseudonymized video footage. Utilizing original footage can improve recognition accuracy by up to 25%. President Lee Jaemyung proposed the use of original footage at the regulatory reform meeting held in September this year. Currently, companies collecting and using video data for research and development must collect it with pre-designated vehicles and then pseudonymize it.

The operation of autonomous buses will also be expanded in rural and other areas with limited public transportation. This serves the dual purpose of accumulating data and improving services in transportation-vulnerable regions. Bus drivers who receive autonomous driving-related training will be allowed to operate buses directly without employees from development companies. Currently, only autonomous driving development companies can obtain permits, but transportation operators will also be granted temporary operation permits. The fast-track program, previously limited to vehicles with steering wheels and pedals, will be expanded to include all vehicle types.

If a company establishes a safety plan, it will also be allowed to operate temporarily in zones designated for the protection of vulnerable road users. For example, vehicles can operate at speeds below 30 km/h or outside of commuting and school hours as part of the safety plan. Currently, even temporarily licensed autonomous vehicles must switch to manual operation in these zones. The authority to designate demonstration zones will also be extended to provincial governors, in addition to the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. There are also plans to introduce special remote-control regulations by the first half of next year, which will allow remote control in emergency situations such as accidents. At present, remote control is only permitted for parking.

Inside Baidu's autonomous taxi Luoboqupa. Paid transportation services are available in some areas such as Beijing and Wuhan. Photo by Choi Yae-ryeol

Clarifying Liability for Autonomous Driving Accidents

For Level 4 or higher autonomous vehicles without drivers, the government will launch a task force to clarify accident liability, as there is currently no clear party subject to sanctions in the event of an incident. The task force, comprising the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, the insurance industry, and other relevant organizations, will discuss how to allocate liability for damages in the event of an accident. Legal responsibility is expected to become clearer in the future.

To address growing opposition from the taxi industry as autonomous vehicles become more commercialized, the government and stakeholders will form a social consultative body, which will begin operations as early as next month. The Product Liability Act will be amended to ease the requirements for presuming vehicle defects, while also establishing measures to protect manufacturers' trade secrets.

Cho Sunghwan, President of the Korea Autonomous Driving Industry Association, said, "Having vehicles actually driving on the roads is the best way to accelerate the commercialization of autonomous driving in South Korea, so it is important to expand demonstration zones and increase the number of vehicles in operation." He added, "Since most autonomous driving development companies are small, a structure in which large corporations participate in vehicle manufacturing or operation is needed, and it is essential to enable profit models such as robotaxis and buses."

On the 27th, KT held a briefing session on its autonomous driving pilot project at the Smart City Integrated Center in Dongan-gu, Anyang City, showcasing a demonstration run of an autonomous driving bus. The driver of the autonomous driving bus is operating the vehicle with hands off the steering wheel. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

Meanwhile, the meeting also addressed the formation of a task force to promote the "Korean-style next-generation power grid." The goal is to build a power grid that integrates and manages small-scale distributed renewable energy resources using artificial intelligence (AI) technology, optimizing power generation, storage, and consumption. To this end, by 2030, energy storage systems (ESS) will be installed on approximately 85 distribution lines, mainly those connected to solar power, and an AI-based operating system will be introduced. There are also plans to develop and demonstrate microgrid models tailored to regional characteristics.

To advance the power grid, the government will promote the commercialization of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission. This technology is advantageous for long-distance, high-capacity transmission due to its low power loss. HVDC will be applied to new transmission lines and replacement of aging lines, and intelligent grid demonstrations will be pursued. As part of the restructuring of the new energy industry, the solar sector will focus on next-generation technologies such as high-efficiency tandem cells, with the government targeting commercialization by 2028.

Gu Yooncheol, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, stated, "We will concentrate all our capabilities and support to make South Korea a global hub for super-innovation economies," adding, "We will back AI and super-innovation economy leading projects with massive fiscal investment and bold regulatory improvements to ensure tangible results."

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