The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) is actively implementing service reforms and regulatory innovations to achieve world-class commercialization of Level 4 autonomous driving.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 19th the 'Mobility Innovation Roadmap,' a preemptive response strategy to leap forward as a global leader in the mobility era and to implement innovative services in the daily lives of citizens.

It contains a lot of content related to autonomous driving.

The goal is to commercialize Level 4 autonomous driving, making it a daily routine to rest or work in a vehicle, and to prevent traffic accidents.

To this end, the current passenger transport system will be re-examined to ensure it is compatible with autonomous driving by 2024, and a plan to reform the passenger transport system will be preemptively prepared.

△Support for the private sector will also be expanded to develop and expand new services utilizing autonomous driving, such as support for the transportation disadvantaged and priority passage for emergency vehicles.

Regulations, which have been discussed continuously, also appear likely to be innovated.

To proactively resolve the uncertainty faced by the private sector as it strives to commercialize fully autonomous driving, we plan to proactively establish a system for Level 4 by 2024.

Establish automobile safety standards (manufacturing standards) such as Level 4 vehicle systems (response to defects, etc.) and driving safety (ensuring safety in the event of a collision, etc.), and operate a separate performance recognition system even before establishing standards to support unrestricted operation of autonomous vehicles.

Originally issued a temporary operating permit The system that allowed vehicles to operate for 5 years has been improved so that vehicles with separate performance certification can operate regardless of the temporary operating permit period.

To enable free autonomous driving technology and service verification, we will designate at least one autonomous vehicle pilot operation zone per city and province nationwide by 2025 through the introduction of a system under which the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport designates autonomous vehicle pilot operation zones. After that, we will significantly expand regulatory exemptions by introducing a negative system in which regulatory exemptions are applied to all regions except for certain areas.

It also supports autonomous driving systems by overcoming the limitations of vehicle sensors through nationwide construction of real-time communication infrastructure between autonomous vehicles and between autonomous vehicles and infrastructure.

By 2030, real-time communication infrastructure will be built on roads nationwide (approximately 110,000 km). However, in congested areas such as urban centers where support for autonomous driving systems is particularly required, this will be preemptively built by 2027 through collaboration with local governments.

The communication method will be promoted based on direct communication (WAVE or C-V2X), but for non-congested areas, construction will be promoted in a hybrid manner, such as by utilizing existing mobile communication networks (V2N method) to build at high speed.

By 2030, we will expand the construction of high-precision road maps covering major roads and urban areas nationwide and establish a real-time update system.

In the first half of next year, the first mobility innovation highway will be selected to enable the demonstration of various autonomous driving services, such as autonomous truck platooning, by designating and operating autonomous driving-only lanes on existing highways.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said, “As ICT and innovative technologies are being converged and integrated in the transportation sector, the emphasis is on maximizing mobility from the user’s perspective, and global competition to lead the mobility industry, a future growth engine, is also intensifying.” It added, “We will implement mobility innovation in daily life and launch the ‘full-scale opening of the mobility era,’ which is a key national task.”He said, “We will successfully implement the ‘Mak’.”

Meanwhile, this roadmap was prepared jointly by the public and private sectors through the 'Mobility Innovation Committee', co-chaired by Minister Won Hee-ryong and Professor Ha Heon-gu of Inha University, and comprised of 27 private industry experts.