Self-driving buses that have run on a trial basis along a handful of routes will be rolled out as regular Seoul city buses as early as 2029. Seoul, Hyundai Motor and the city's bus industry will each take charge of regulation, dedicated vehicle development and actual operations, aiming to expand the fleet to 500 autonomous city buses by 2030 and establish them as everyday public transit.
Seoul, Hyundai Motor and the Seoul Bus Transport Business Association signed a memorandum of understanding on the 1st at Seoul City Hall on commercializing Level 4 autonomous city buses and building an industry ecosystem. The three-year agreement sets up a cooperative framework linking dedicated vehicle development, test runs and full-scale adoption and operation.
Seoul currently runs services such as the Dawn Companion autonomous bus for early-morning passengers. But industry officials say retrofitting mass-produced buses with sensors has limits when it comes to large-scale deployment. Expanding the fleet to hundreds of vehicles requires not only a stable vehicle supply but also an operating system covering dispatch, maintenance, charging and safety management.
The core of the agreement is the division of roles among the three parties, linking vehicle development through to actual service. Seoul will put in place the policies and rules needed for regular operations and pursue a plan to switch to autonomous buses as aging vehicles are replaced. Hyundai Motor will develop and supply an 11-meter bus designed for autonomous driving technology. Steering, braking and door operation will be controlled by electronic signals, and key components will be redundant, allowing autonomous driving companies to install their own artificial intelligence software without extensive vehicle modifications.
The bus association will support the transition to autonomous buses at its member operators. It plans to secure the staff and facilities required, including test drivers, control room personnel, depots and charging stations, while applying the dispatch, maintenance and safety management experience accumulated by existing bus companies to autonomous bus operations.
A shared foundation will also be built to support the vehicles and their operation. The partners will establish a control and operations system capable of managing multiple autonomous buses at once and standardize the types and installation criteria for sensors such as cameras and lidar to systematically accumulate operating data. Within the limits allowed by law, that data will be used for AI technology development and validation by domestic autonomous driving companies, research institutes and universities.
After those preparations, 2027 and 2028 will be devoted to developing the dedicated bus and autonomous driving technology, sharing AI training data and conducting test runs with passengers. Performance certification for autonomous vehicles, required for commercial sales and operation, will also be completed during that period. Full-scale adoption begins in 2029. The fleet will then grow to 500 buses by 2030 in step with the replacement of aging vehicles, with the scope widened in stages as vehicle performance and operational safety are confirmed.
"Commercializing autonomous city buses requires policy and regulation, vehicles and technology, and actual operations to come together," Hyundai Motor President Park Min-woo said. "Based on vehicles built for autonomous driving and a control platform, we will create an environment where developers can reliably validate their technology and bus operators can run services safely."
"It is now time to move beyond demonstration to full commercialization," Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said. "We will bring together Hyundai Motor's technology, the AI capabilities of autonomous driving companies, the operating experience of Seoul's city buses, and the city's transport infrastructure and administrative capacity to create Korea's model for autonomous city buses."
