The government will invest 1.974 trillion won over seven years to develop technology for commercializing Level 4+ autonomous vehicles.

The Autonomous Driving Technology Development Innovation Center (Director Jinwoo Choi) completed the commencement report on 53 detailed tasks (2021 government budget of 85.04 billion won) on June 17 and began full-scale development of Level 4+ autonomous driving technology that enables safe and perfect autonomous driving.

The Autonomous Driving Technology Development Innovation Project is a multi-ministerial collaborative project promoted by four ministries: the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the National Police Agency. It will be carried out over seven years with a total project cost of KRW 1.0974 trillion.

The project is jointly managed by the business unit and each ministry's R&D specialized institute (Korea Industrial Technology Evaluation and Planning Institute, National IT Industry Promotion Agency, Korea Agency for Infrastructure Technology Advancement, and Science and Security Promotion Center), and supports 88 detailed tasks centered on five major strategic areas, including new vehicle convergence technology, new ICT convergence technology, new road traffic convergence technology, service creation, and ecosystem construction, with the goal of completing the foundation for commercialization of convergence-type Lv. 4+ autonomous driving.

A total of 3,474 people, including 1,524 master's and doctoral students from 373 autonomous driving-related institutions, participated in the 53 sub-projects selected this year.Research personnel will participate in level 4+ commercialization research and development.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy will lead the development of autonomous vehicle components for recognition, judgment and control of autonomous vehicles with the participation of 799 researchers from 104 institutions, including 54 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), 8 large corporations, 21 national research institutes and 11 universities, including Hyundai Mobis Co., Ltd., Mando Co., Ltd., Seoul Robotics Co., Ltd., Korea Automotive Research Institute, Korea Standards Association and KAIST.

The Ministry of Science and ICT will participate in 3 strategic areas and 15 detailed tasks including new ICT convergence technology, new vehicle convergence technology, and establishment of an autonomous driving ecosystem. A total of 903 researchers, including 316 master's and doctoral degree holders, from 92 institutions including KT Corporation, Morai Corporation, Stris Corporation, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, and Seoul National University, 6 large corporations, 21 national research institutes, and 18 universities will participate to promote data collection and processing automation technology, vehicle communication and security, cloud and edge-linked autonomous driving AI SW, and simulator development.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will lead road and traffic technology, dynamic maps, law/system improvement, and mobility service verification in 13 sub-tasks across 3 strategic areas: development of new road and traffic convergence technologies, autonomous driving services, and autonomous driving ecosystems. A total of 103 institutions, including 40 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), 12 large corporations, 26 national research institutes, and 18 universities, will participate with a total of 1,085 researchers, including 540 master's and doctoral degree holders.

The National Police Agency is cooperating with LG Uplus, Naver Systems, Chajin, Korea Road Traffic Authority, and Korea Electric Power Corporation in two strategic areas and nine sub-tasks: road traffic convergence new technology and autonomous driving ecosystem.A total of 687 researchers, including 327 master's and doctoral degree holders from 74 institutions including the Korea Institute of Magnetics and Technology, Hanyang University, 32 small and medium-sized enterprises, 1 large corporation, 8 national research institutes, and 17 universities, will participate in the research. They will review the Road Traffic Act and other legal systems to ensure traffic safety and communication, and promote the development of pre-verification of autonomous vehicle driving capabilities, an operation support system, and traffic accident analysis technology.

Choi Jin-woo, head of the project division, said, “Since this project is being promoted as a single multi-ministry project, we will establish specific linkage and cooperation plans between sub-tasks without establishing boundaries between ministries to achieve the integrated goal,” adding, “The project division will serve as an all-round mediator to ensure the success of the project.”

Meanwhile, the business unit plans to visit seven autonomous driving pilot operation zones in Korea (Sangam, Seoul; Pangyo, Gyeonggi; Chungbuk; Sejong; Gwangju; Daegu; and Jeju) and automakers to discuss cooperation measures for the successful development of autonomous driving level 4+ technology.