Hyundai Motor and Kia will supply 200 vehicles and operate an autonomous driving platform for a pilot program in the southwestern South Korean city of Gwangju. The pilot will run in Gwangju's Gwangsan-gu, Buk-gu and parts of Seo-gu in the second half of this year, expanding next year to the rest of Seo-gu as well as Nam-gu and Dong-gu, eventually covering all of Gwangju's 500.97 square kilometers.
Hyundai Motor and Kia said Tuesday they signed a memorandum of understanding at Gwangju's Kim Daejung Convention Center with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Gwangju Metropolitan City, the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Autonomous A2Z and RideFlux to develop an autonomous driving test city.
The signing ceremony was attended by Land Minister Kim Yoon-duk, Gwangju Mayor Kang Gi-jung, Korea Transportation Safety Authority Chairman Jeong Yong-sik and Park Min-woo, head of Hyundai Motor and Kia's AVP Division, along with officials from Samsung Fire & Marine, Autonomous A2Z and RideFlux. "We cannot fall behind the United States and China, the frontrunners in autonomous driving," Kim said. "We will push forward with the autonomous driving test city project as a mega special zone combining regulatory exemptions with a policy support package."
"This pilot will serve as a key turning point for advancing Korea's autonomous driving technology," Park said. "We will provide customers with a high-level autonomous driving experience and, over the medium to long term, lay the groundwork for securing leadership in autonomous driving technology."
The agreement aims to advance private-sector autonomous driving technology through a pilot program in Gwangju, which offers diverse road conditions. The public and private participants will form a consortium called "Team Korea Autonomous Driving" to operate a large fleet, collect data and validate technology.
On the public side, the Land Ministry will oversee the project, handling autonomous driving policy and administrative support to establish an institutional framework. Gwangju Metropolitan City will provide pilot infrastructure such as corporate workspaces, depots and charging facilities, while the Korea Transportation Safety Authority will offer administrative support and verify technical results.
On the private side, Hyundai Motor and Kia will produce about 200 autonomous vehicles based on existing mass-production models for use in the pilot. Each vehicle will come equipped with eight autonomous driving cameras and one radar designed to handle various situations. Unlike the robotaxis operated by Motional—a joint venture between Hyundai Motor Group and Aptiv—the vehicles will not use lidar. Motional's robotaxi is set for its first commercial launch in the United States later this year.
Hyundai Motor and Kia will also conduct technology development and validation using vehicles equipped with their autonomous driving solution "Atria AI." They are reviewing the possibility of adding sensors during the pilot. Atria AI uses an end-to-end approach that links perception, judgment and control into a single AI model. By comprehensively learning from real-world driving data, it can respond to complex traffic situations better than conventional rule-based systems that rely on predefined rules and scenarios.
Hyundai Motor and Kia will also operate the autonomous driving service platform using their AI-based mobility platform "Shucle." The platform serves as an integrated control system handling customer ride requests, vehicle dispatch and route planning that reflects traffic conditions. Autonomous driving startups Autonomous A2Z and RideFlux will carry out technology validation using the pilot vehicles and operating platform provided by Hyundai Motor and Kia, while Samsung Fire & Marine will establish an accident response system and develop autonomous driving insurance products.
