South Korea’s mobility leaders accelerate self-driving push

By Maekyung News Service

South Korea’s leading mobility platforms are accelerating their autonomous driving businesses, seeking new growth by integrating the technology with existing services such as taxis and rental cars.

Kakao Mobility, SOCAR and Uber are developing autonomous driving technologies by drawing on their respective strengths, according to information technology industry sources Wednesday.

Expanding autonomous services

Kakao Mobility plans to substantially expand the use of end-to-end, or E2E, technology by the end of this year. The technology enables artificial intelligence to handle the entire driving process from perception to decision-making.

The company has operated autonomous vehicles in Seoul’s Gangnam district since March. Their cumulative driving distance exceeded 13,000 kilometers as of the end of August.

Kakao Mobility aims to accumulate driving data to improve its response to unexpected situations known as edge cases.

“E2E technology uses AI to replicate the tacit knowledge of experienced drivers,” a Kakao Mobility official said. “It will allow vehicles to drive skillfully even on roads they have not previously encountered during training.”

Car-sharing company SOCAR is pursuing a two-track autonomous driving strategy. It is adding Tesla models equipped with Full Self-Driving technology to its rental fleet, giving consumers access to advanced driving features.

The company is also developing its own autonomous driving software. It established Apex Mobility with game developer Krafton in May and committed 150 billion won ($109.60 million) to the venture.

SOCAR plans to introduce specialized vehicles for collecting autonomous driving data by the end of this year. The company expects its nationwide rental fleet to generate high-quality data from a wide range of roads and driving conditions.

SOCAR operates about 25,000 vehicles equipped with front and rear dashboard cameras and telematics devices. They collect more than 100 types of vehicle information, including Global Positioning System data and steering angles. The entire fleet travels about 1.1 million kilometers a day.

“We expect to have accumulated a substantial amount of autonomous driving data by the end of this year,” a company official said. “We plan to develop the business gradually from a long-term perspective.”

Global players target South Korea

Uber is expected to introduce autonomous driving services in South Korea within three years after beginning its Asian expansion in Japan.

Uber, British autonomous driving startup Wayve and Nissan plan to launch a robotaxi pilot in Tokyo by the end of this year. Nissan will supply Leaf electric vehicles, Wayve will install its AI Driver technology and Uber will handle ride dispatching.

Uber and Wayve have already introduced robotaxi services together in London and are now expanding their partnership to Japan. The companies plan to use Japan as a starting point for further expansion into Asian markets, including South Korea.

Founded in 2017, Wayve is a leading autonomous driving software company recently valued at $8.5 billion.

As South Korea’s robotaxi market begins to emerge, U.S.-based Waymo and China’s Baidu have also established local entities for autonomous driving businesses.

The global robotaxi market is projected to reach $1.27 billion this year, more than double last year’s $610 million, according to Fortune Business Insights.

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