A total of 30 vehicles were licensed by 17 agencies and operated without accidents.
A data sharing center is scheduled to be built by the end of this year.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced the driving performance of autonomous vehicles that received temporary operating permits for research purposes in 2017.

The temporary operating permit system for autonomous vehicles was introduced in February 2016, and by the end of last year, a total of 30 autonomous vehicles from 17 organizations had received permits.

The licensed institutions are Korea Transportation Safety Authority (2), Kia Motors (2), Naver Labs (1), Mando (1), Samsung Electronics (2), Seoul National University (4), Ssangyong Motors (1), SK Telecom (1), LG Electronics (1), Korea Automotive Technology Institute (1), KT (1), Korea Institute of Advanced Convergence Technology (1), Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (1), Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (2), Hanyang University (2), Hyundai Mobis (1), and Hyundai Motors (6). The total driving distance of the 30 vehicles is approximately 190,000 km.

The main driving areas for autonomous vehicles were the Gyeongbu and Yeongdong Expressways and the Seoul/Gyeonggi area, including Yeouido, Hwaseong, and Uiwang. This is mainly because the production company and research institute are located in Hwaseong and Uiwang, and it is analyzed that they drove on a highway section to test a Level 3 autonomous vehicle.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is supporting the establishment of a dedicated testing facility, K-City, and the construction of a high-precision road map so that autonomous vehicle development organizations can practice autonomous driving technology.

Last October, the K-City highway section was completed and opened to the public first. Furthermore, a high-precision road map required for autonomous driving was also developed and provided to the public free of charge.

In particular, for some road sections requested by institutions, such as Pyeongchang and Yeouido, we have been supporting the construction of high-precision road maps first so that the private sector can freely conduct research.

Kim Chae-gyu, director of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Automobile Management Bureau, said, "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to establish a data sharing center by the end of this year to enable research institutes to collaborate by sharing driving data accumulated by autonomous vehicles."