2018 Korea Innovation Growth Report Conference held and results announced.

The government held the "2018 Republic of Korea Innovation Growth Report" at the Magok Research and Development (R&D) Complex and announced the results of fostering the future vehicle industry.

The report meeting was held on this day to review the performance of the eight leading innovative growth projects that the government is prioritizing and to discuss ways to expand the results.

First, a demonstration of the hydrogen bus's fine dust reduction effect was presented. Hydrogen vehicles remove over 99.9% of fine dust in the air through multi-layer filters, membrane humidifiers, and gas diffusion layers, emitting only clean air.

The demonstration involves injecting an amount of fine dust equivalent to the amount an adult male would inhale for about 200 years into a balloon connected to the intake of a hydrogen bus, and then checking the color and smell of the clean air accumulated in a balloon connected to the exhaust port.

A hydrogen bus purifies 4.86 kg of air per kilometer traveled, or 418,218 kg per year (assuming 86,000 km traveled annually). This is equivalent to the air that 76 adults breathe in for a year. Assuming all 6,951 city buses in Seoul are replaced with hydrogen buses, this would provide air for approximately 530,000 people.

The government is doing its best to create new sources of growth and jobs in future vehicle sectors such as electric, hydrogen, and autonomous vehicles. To promote the spread of electric and hydrogen vehicles, we are focusing on technological development and infrastructure expansion, and providing top-level incentives such as budget and tax benefits.

While focusing on developing technologies to improve driving range and shorten charging times, we have also reorganized purchase subsidies to differentiate payments to promote technological innovation, and expanded the tax deduction limit (from KRW 2 million to KRW 3 million) (January 2018).

In addition, the mandatory purchase ratio of eco-friendly vehicles for public institutions has been increased (from 50% to 70%, January), and the number of new electric cargo vehicles has been allowed to increase. In addition, the Postal Service Headquarters is focusing on expanding the market by promoting the conversion of 10,000 two-wheeled vehicles for postal delivery to ultra-small electric vehicles ('18-'20).

In particular, with the increase in electric cargo vehicles permitted, private logistics companies plan to replace 3,500 delivery vehicles with electric trucks.

To prepare for the era of full-scale commercialization of autonomous vehicles, we are supporting the domestic development of core components such as cameras and radar, and are training master's and doctoral level experts.

In December 2017, a highway environment equipped with 5G communication facilities was given priority for construction/opening at Hwaseong K-City, an autonomous driving test bed, and a total of 1,351 km of high-precision road maps were constructed and provided free of charge to approximately 360 companies and universities.

In addition, the procedure for obtaining a temporary operating permit for autonomous vehicles, which allows for test driving on all roads nationwide, has been simplified, significantly increasing the number of autonomous vehicles permitted from 30 at the end of 2017 to 45 currently.

The electric vehicle market has entered a period of full-scale expansion, with demand more than doubling every year and exceeding the purchase subsidy budget for the first time this year.

In particular, electric buses, micro electric vehicles, chargers, etc.There are cases of small businesses entering the electric vehicle market, and electronics companies such as LG Electronics are also securing new sources of growth by focusing on investing in future vehicle component technology.

The era of commercialization of autonomous vehicles is becoming more visible, with Hyundai Motor Company successfully demonstrating and test-driving Level 4 autonomous driving, and telecommunications companies such as SKT successfully demonstrating 5G-based autonomous cooperative driving.

MCNEX, a mobile phone camera manufacturer, has entered the smart car camera market, supplying products to global companies such as Peugeot, Volvo, and Citroën, achieving a market share of 5th place. The future car sector is expected to continue to provide new growth opportunities for Korean IT companies.

Venture company 'Smart On Communication' is also creating a service industry that utilizes big data, such as collecting vehicle data, analyzing driving characteristics, and selling customized engine oil.

To further accelerate the expansion of these private sector achievements, the government plans to smoothly implement the Future Vehicle Innovation Growth Strategy announced on February 2nd.

While focusing on supporting the development of electric and hydrogen vehicles that are comparable to internal combustion engine vehicles, the government also plans to expand the number of rapid chargers by 1,500 per year to 10,000 by 2022.

In particular, we plan to accelerate market expansion through the 'Public Transportation Electric Vehicle Conversion Project', which selects pilot cities and converts 100% of buses and trucks within the pilot cities to electric hydrogen vehicles by 2030.

While focusing on the development of nine core autonomous vehicle component technologies, the company plans to complete the autonomous driving test bed, K-City, this year and smoothly establish related systems in time for commercialization.