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The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, taking its first step towards autonomous public transportation
- On 29 (Oct), a trial run of autonomous buses and Smart Mobility Conference Sejong 2019 will be held.
- Since November, autonomous buses will be tested in Sejong City.
- In 2023, autonomous buses will be commercialized and operated as a part of the public transport system
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (“MOLIT”) is taking its first step to implement ‘the future car national vision’ declared on 15 Oct. 2019 by President Moon Jae-in to make Korea the most competitive country in terms of futures vehicles by 2030.
As early as this November, test operation of autonomous buses will be commenced in Sejong City. Autonomous buses will be commercialized and officially introduced to the public transportation system by 2023.
In an effort to realize the vision, MOLIT (Minster: Hyun-mee Kim) and Sejong city (Mayor: Choon-hee Lee) will jointly hold “Smart Mobility Conference Sejong 2019” at the Sejong Convention Center on 29 (Oct) and conduct test runs of automated buses with participation of Sejong citizens.
The main features of the event are as follows:
1. A trial run / demonstration of autonomous driving buses
Two Level 3 autonomous buses that have been developed through the “Connected and Automated Vehicle Based Public Transport System Project ” are going to run in Sejong City for the first time today.
The demonstration will be conducted 9 times in total and technologies presented during the demonstration includes: △ precisely stopping at a bus stop △ passing a roundabout with prescheduled takeover procedure △ receiving traffic signal information through V2X communication △ requesting to get on and off the bus using a smartphone application.
Starting from this demonstration, it is planned that two small-medium sized buses will commence test operation 2-3 times a week this year along the 9.8km designated public roads. The project will be expanded to eight buses including large buses with level 4 automation in in 35.6km zone including Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) sections in 2021. From 2021, the buses will take passengers on board as a part of the test operation.
2. Smart Mobility Conference Sejong 2019
The international conference has been jointly arranged by MOLIT, the authority overseeing regulations on automated vehicles and infrastructure, and Sejong City that is keen on promoting automated vehicle industry as an innovative growth engine in the region. The conference is aimed to facilitate faster development and wider use of automated mobility service.
Brad Templeton, the chair for Networks and Computing at Singularity university in the U.S., Kurt Hoppe, the director of Product Management in the Android Automotive sector of Google and other prestigious speakers will attend the event and participate in keynote speech, presentation and breakout sections.
By jointly holding the conference, MOLIT and Sejong City keep up the efforts on searching cooperation models between the central government and the regional government in the field of autonomous vehicle based public transportation.
The Vice-Minister for transport of MOLIT, Kyung-wook Kim mentioned “we expect that this event will be the first step towards implementation of the future car national vision, which was declared on 15 (Oct).” and “we will continue to try our best to develop and adopt the mobility service which enables advancing the automated driving technology”
Choon-hee Lee, the mayor of Sejong City mentioned “I believe this conference is meaningful as it demonstrates the cooperation between MOLIT, the authority managing the overall automated vehicle regulations, and Sejong City that has the city infrastructure best suited for automated vehicles”
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