Ministry of Science and ICT Announces New Projects for Unmanned Vehicle Core Technology Development Program
Development of technologies applicable to land, sea, and air, such as detection, recognition, and autonomous intelligence

The government is pursuing a mid-to-long-term source technology development project worth 170 billion won to leap forward as a technology powerhouse for unmanned vehicles.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on March 15 that it is proceeding with the selection of new projects with the goal of securing source technologies for unmanned vehicles and enhancing technological competitiveness by investing a total of 170.28 billion won over seven years from 2020 to 2027 to develop source technologies applicable to land, sea, and air, and to implement an integrated operation system through autonomous cooperation among multiple and heterogeneous types.
The investment scale for each project is 71.73 billion won for the development of common source technologies and 71.31 billion won for the development of integrated operation technology demonstrators over seven years, and this year, 12.5 billion won will be invested to select projects in 11 fields (9 research groups, 2 single projects).

The field of common source technology includes the Detection and Recognition Research Group (Navigation and Sensor Technology), Communication Research Group, Autonomous Intelligence Research Group, Power Source and Mobility (Single Project), Human-Mobile Interface Research Group, System Integration Framework (Single Project), and System Integration Hardware Research Group.

The Integrated Operational Technology Demonstrator includes ▲ Development of autonomous cooperative unmanned vehicles for land, sea, and air (Autonomous Cooperation Research Group) ▲ Development of separable and combinable delivery unmanned vehicles for land and air (land and airComplex Research Group) ▲ Development of a complex system for unmanned surface vessels and autonomous underwater vehicles (Marine Complex Research Group) is included.
Previously, in January, the Ministry of Science and ICT selected the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (hereinafter KARI) as the project team for the development of source technologies for unmanned vehicles, and laid the foundation for expanding the industrial and research base through the management of the entire project process, including project planning, execution management, and evaluation, as well as technology transfer of deliverables, integrated technology workshops, and sharing of results.

In addition, in January 2019, detailed planning for each project was completed through consultations with experts from industry, academia, and research institutes based on the key contents of the projects and sub-projects that passed the preliminary feasibility study. After selecting the research team and project leaders through this open call, the project is scheduled to begin in earnest.

Ko Seo-gon, Director General of Basic and Original Research Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, “We expect the unmanned vehicle source technology development project to serve as a catalyst for small and medium-sized domestic unmanned vehicle industries to lead the future global market,” adding, “We will continue to provide support to ensure that the results of technology development lead to tangible outcomes such as technology transfer and commercialization.”

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Science and ICT is holding an online business briefing via YouTube live streaming, taking into account the situation where it is becoming difficult to hold offline business briefings for institutions wishing to participate in projects due to the recent spread of COVID-19.

Applications for new projects will be accepted from March 30 to April 16, and questions and answers regarding the project details and application procedures can be obtained through an online business briefing.