- Announcement of types of exclusive vehicles for new transportation that can be driven on BRT lanes -
- Paid service for autonomous driving in Sejong BRT will start from June 2022
Metropolitan Transport Commission (Chairman Baek Seung-Geun, hereinafter Metropolitan Transport Commission) of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (Minister Noh Hyeong-Ouk, MOLIT) announced the 'New Transportation Exclusive Vehicle Types' to allow autonomous vehicles in the BRT* system on April 20th**.
* BRT (Bus Rapid Transit): A public transportation system equipped with facilities such as dedicated driving routes, multi-level intersections, and bus stops where exclusive vehicles are driven rapidly.
** Relevant notice: Announcement of types of exclusive vehicles for new transportation among vehicles exclusive for the BRT system
Vehicles that can pass through the BRT exclusive route are divided into ‘general vehicles,’ used for the city bus transportation business and ‘new transportation vehicles,’ which uses new technologies.
‘Types of exclusive vehicles for new transportation’ have been specified on this notice, and the details are as follows.
① R&D vehicles that are supported by central administrative agencies or local governments for the purpose of technical improvement related to operation compared to general vehicles
② Autonomous driving vehicles, which are used for public transportation purposes, that have obtained temporary operation permission from the MOLIT to operate for testing and research purposes
③ Commercial vehicles that are equipped with technical improvements related to ①~② above
Since BRT is a transportation system which allows specific vehicles to be driven on exclusive driving routes, it provides excellent physical condition for autonomous driving as there is little interference from regular cars.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has been promoting various policies and R&D with the goal of commercializing ‘Lv.4 autonomous vehicles in 2027.’
※ The “Autonomous Vehicle Act” divides Level 3 into ‘Partially Autonomous Vehicles’ and Levels 4 to 5 as ‘Fully Autonomous Vehicles’
In December 2020, the pilot operation districts for autonomous vehicle, including BRT, were designated in the Chungcheong and Sejong regions. In November 2021, a demonstration event of an autonomous driving bus, made with with national R&D*, was held on the Sejong BRT route.
* (Title/Period/Research institute) The empirical study on public transportation system based on autonomous driving, 2018.4-2021.12, 15 institutions including The Korean Transport Institute (host), Seoul National University, Hyundai Motor Company, KAIST, etc.
By announcing autonomous driving vehicles for business and R&D purposes as vehicles for the new transportation, it is expected the commercialization services will be introduced and expanded in BRT routes beyond the existing research and development of autonomous driving.
In particular, Sejong district plans to launch a paid autonomous driving service on the BRT routes for citizens from June 2022 by utilizing the autonomous driving technology developed so far.
In the future, Metropolitan Transport Commission plans to actively support related local governments in order to preemptively research, develop and commercialize various new technologies, including autonomous driving, on BRT routes outside of Sejong.
Please refer to the attached PDF.