RideFlux said it will begin Korea's first paid autonomous truck freight service together with Hanjin Transportation starting Monday.
The route runs one way for 116 kilometers, departing from the Gunsan special cargo customs clearance area, passing through the Jeonju Hanjin delivery center, and arriving at the Daejeon Mega Hub Center. The autonomous truck will operate twice a week during daytime hours. A Tata Daewoo Maxen 25-ton heavy truck will be deployed, carrying delivery cargo of up to 11 tons in weight and operating at a maximum speed of 90 kilometers per hour. For safety, a professional safety officer will ride in the driver's seat.
Beginning with this Hanjin project, RideFlux will break away from its business structure centered on business-to-government (B2G) projects and begin a full-scale transformation toward the business-to-business (B2B) market. RideFlux plans to expand its paid freight service nationwide, including to North Chungcheong, Gangneung, and Jeju, in partnership with Lotte Global Logistics within this year. Furthermore, the company aims to fully combine its driverless autonomous driving technology—currently undergoing phased test runs without a safety officer in the driver's seat in Sangam, Seoul—into its autonomous trucks, targeting full-scale unmanned operation in the middle-mile segment between logistics hubs next year.
"We will lead innovation in the middle-mile market together with domestic logistics companies, and based on our proven technology and business viability, successfully complete our KOSDAQ listing in the second half of this year," said Park Joong-hee, CEO of RideFlux.
