Seongnam City Selected as 'Drone Demonstration City' for Six Consecutive Years... Opening the Era of Drone and Robot Integrated Logistics

Building 'Public Safety Data' in Partnership with Naver

Expanding Integrated Drone and Robot Delivery Logistics Services

Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province (Mayor: Shin Sangjin), announced on March 13 that it had been selected for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s ‘2026 Drone Demonstration City Project.’ With this, Seongnam has become the first city in the country to be named a Drone Demonstration City for six consecutive years.

Drone flying in the sky over Tancheon Stream in Seongnam City. Provided by Seongnam City

On this day, Seongnam City signed a business agreement for the ‘2026 Drone Demonstration City Project’ at the Daejeon Convention Center, together with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Korea Institute of Aviation Safety Technology, the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, and other selected local governments. Among the 18 municipalities selected as drone demonstration cities this year, Seongnam is the only one to have been chosen for six consecutive years.

With this selection, Seongnam City will carry out a drone demonstration project with a total budget of 550 million won (including 340 million won in national funds and 210 million won in city funds) by November 30, 2026.

This year, Seongnam will provide a daily-life park delivery service through the ‘K-Drone Delivery Commercialization’ initiative. Last year, drone delivery began at Tancheon and Jungang Park, where citizens collected items directly at drone drop-off points. This year, the service will expand to become the nation's first integrated smart logistics service by connecting with robot delivery. Robots will deliver food to designated pick-up points.

Additionally, the city will newly introduce a public safety drone service that citizens can experience directly. Both fixed-wing drones, which can efficiently search wide areas for extended periods, and rotary-wing drones, which can precisely film and inspect specific locations, will be used together to systematically build information on urban safety infrastructure such as fire hydrants, evacuation facilities, and public restrooms.

In particular, Naver is newly participating in this project as a partner organization. By linking the high-precision 3D data collected by drones with the Naver portal, the city aims to provide citizens with easily accessible urban safety and daily-life information. The data collected in this way will also be integrated with the city’s internal administrative systems to further enhance the use of public safety information.

Previously, in the 2025 Drone Demonstration City project, Seongnam successfully operated an artificial intelligence (AI)-based road hazard detection service and a drone 3D model-based CCTV installation site analysis service, establishing the most extensive drone utilization model among local governments nationwide.

A Seongnam City official stated, “Being selected for six consecutive years for the first time nationwide demonstrates that Seongnam is leading drone-based administrative innovation and citizen services. We will continue to create a future city model that increases administrative efficiency through drones and offers citizens a safer and more convenient daily life.”

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