To promote and develop domestic autonomous driving technology, the autonomous driving industry and academia have requested the creation of test beds and the training of specialized personnel.

Ahead of the launch of Korea's first Level 3 autonomous vehicle in the second half of this year, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Moon Seung-wook held a 'Autonomous Driving Industry Development Industry-Academia-Research Forum' on the 28th with experts from industry, academia, and research institutes, and exchanged extensive opinions on the direction of development and strengthening competitiveness of the domestic autonomous driving industry.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Moon Seung-wook, Hyundai Motor Group, which is about to launch Korea's first Level 3 autonomous vehicle, and around 20 autonomous driving experts from industry, academia, and research, including autonomous driving parts and service companies.

Minister Moon Seung-wook highly praised the achievements of the project to develop technologies for nine key autonomous driving components, saying, “I understand that the radars developed through your efforts will be installed in many of the first Level 3 autonomous vehicles to be released in Korea this year.”

Minister Moon said that autonomous driving technology is not just a technology to improve vehicle performance, but also a technology to solve social issues and an advanced technology that must guarantee the safety of the people. Even advanced countries have not yet fully secured it, and now is the opportunity for industry, academia, and research institutes to work together. He urged that efforts should be made to move forward.

To this end, we requested that the technological capabilities accumulated so far be actively developed with the goal of securing Level 4 autonomous driving technology by 2027.

The government also announced that it will do its best to foster the future vehicle ecosystem by securing standards and expanding digital infrastructure to support the service base, while fostering experts in the autonomous driving field, as autonomous driving technology has great potential to expand into our lives.

At the meeting, the industry proposed expanding the test bed for support and verification to expand the popularization of autonomous vehicles, and the academic community emphasized the urgent need to train future vehicle system software developers, as the establishment of a standard O/S for finished vehicles is essential in particular for establishing a software-defined vehicle (SDV) development system.

In response to suggestions from various sectors, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy stated, “We are confirming through various channels that the demand for R&D in the autonomous driving industry is increasing and that there is a great need for a shortage of specialized personnel,” and added that it will continue to develop customized policies for issues requested by the domestic autonomous driving industry and will thoroughly follow up on the future vehicle policies announced so far to ensure that support for the development of the autonomous driving industry can be expanded.

Meanwhile, the nine core component development projects exhibited at the Sejong Convention Center achieved 84.5 billion won in commercialization sales in 2021, including 120 patent registrations and applications, and plans to expand the results in line with the roadmap for securing Level 4 autonomous driving technology by 2027.

Additionally, an autonomous hydrogen bus equipped with all nine core components that will soon enter verification was also exhibited outdoors, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy expressed interest in the possibility that more components essential for autonomous driving will be commercialized and the results will spread.

autonomyThe hydrogen-powered bus is a Level 3 model that combines autonomous driving technology and hydrogen fuel cell use in a large bus. It is scheduled to receive a temporary operating permit around the end of April and begin autonomous driving tests on the Sejong City BRT road. After verification, it is planned to be used in the public transportation sector.