Autonomous Vehicle, Legislation and Policies of South Korea from 2019 to 2021
In Korea, there are various administrative departments that decide and support policies for Autonomous Vehicle (AV), but the main ministry is the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT). If you search for press releases related to AV in MOLIT site, the related news can be found from 2014.
There are six automobile manufacturing companies, Hyundai Motor, Kia, Ssangyong Motor, Renault Samsung Motors, and GM Korea in Korea. So there has been a lot of interest in AV for a long time. It has been preparing for autonomous driving technology while selling cars with ADAS technology.
However, the movement of fully autonomous driving technology can be said to have created an environment for full-fledged autonomous driving as the National Assembly passed the “Act on Promotion and Support of the Commercialization of Autonomous Vehicles” in 2019. For this reason, this article introduce briefly the representative policies and supports announced after the bill was passed in 2019.
※ Please understand, most of the linked sites and pictures below are Korean. English ones are displayed separately.
2019
1. (Segmentation of related definitions) The autonomous driving technology stage is divided into partially autonomous driving and fully autonomous driving according to the need for driver intervention, and the definition of autonomous driving systems and related infrastructure is established to lay the basis for future safety standards and accident responsibilities.
2. (Reorganization of the policy implementation system) It enhances the predictability of private policies by establishing basic plans for infrastructure construction and introducing transportation logistics systems such as public transportation every five years.
3. (Maintenance of safe driving conditions) Evaluate roads from the perspective of autonomous vehicles, designate “autonomous safety zones,” and intensively manage and invest infrastructure such as road facilities and autonomous cooperation systems to maintain safety zones and expand safety zones.
4. (Introduction of pilot zone) Various regulatory exceptions such as automobile safety standards and passenger and cargo transportation are granted within a certain area, allowing the demonstration and commercialization of new service and business models using autonomous vehicles.
The pilot operation district will be designated by MOLIT after deliberation by the committee upon application of the city and provincial governors, and local governments, MOLIT, Infrastructure, police, and road management will form and manage a consultative body to ensure operation safety.
5. (Infrastructure construction and management) For smooth autonomous driving, autonomous cooperation systems and high-precision road map shall be established and in particular, the Road Management Office should notify MOLIT of changes in road facilities that require renewal.
- “Act on the Promotion and Support of Autonomous Vehicle Commercialization of Autonomous Vehicles” (Korean)
- “Act on the Promotion and Support of Autonomous Vehicle Commercialization of Autonomous Vehicles” (English)
2019/10/15 — Three strategies for rapid transition to the future car industry.
1. It is actively targeting global markets by accelerating the technology of eco-friendly vehicles and domestic supply.
2. Complete the first autonomous system and infrastructure (major roads) in the world by 2024.
3. Fast transition to an open future car ecosystem based on private investment ($50 billion)
4. 33% of sales of new electric and hydrogen vehicles in Korea by 2030, 10% of global market share.
5. World’s first commercialization of fully autonomous driving (Level 4) of major roads in Korea in 2027.
2020
2020/01/05 — The world’s first partially autonomous vehicle (Level 3) safety standards are established.
From July 2020, it will be possible to launch and sell Level 3 autonomous vehicles equipped with an automatic lane keeping function — even if the driver does not hold the steering wheel, the autonomous driving system maintains a safe lane on its own and drives while responding to emergencies.
Through the introduction of the autonomous driving (level 3) safety standard, autonomous driving with continuous lane keeping is possible even after taking the hands off the responsibility of the autonomous vehicle within the designated operating area.
Based on the results of research conducted by MOLIT, the Level 3 safety standards enacted this time are prepared through the international trends being discussed at the UN-affiliated Automobile Safety Standards International Harmonization Forum (UN/ECE/WP.29) and opinions from domestic industries and academic circles.
- By introducing the definition of an autonomous driving system, it is clear to classify functions.
- Establish partial autonomous driving system safety standards so that Level 3 autonomous vehicles can respond appropriately to various situations when keeping lanes
- Operates after checking whether driving is possible
- Securing safety in autonomous driving
- Driving change request by situation
- Response to Urgent Situations
- Response to unresponsive situations in which driver response is required
- Prepare system failure
※ Korea Herald News (English)
2020/09/03 — On October 8th, the “Autonomous Vehicle Accident Investigation Committee” was launched.
In the event of an autonomous vehicle accident, the existing driver’s responsibility is maintained for rapid damage recovery, but the right to indemnity can be exercised to the manufacturer in case of a vehicle defect. To support this, an ‘Accident Investigation Committee’ will be established to investigate autonomous driving information recording devices attached to autonomous vehicles.
2020/10/04 — By expanding the construction of ‘Precision Road Map’, the era of autonomous cooperative driving will be advanced
MOLIT announce that it plans to expand the scope of the construction of precision road maps, a key infrastructure for autonomous driving, to complete the construction of precision road maps of about 14,000 kilometers nationwide by 2022.
Starting with this year’s metropolitan area, the government has begun to expand the construction of general national highways, and by next year, it will produce precise road maps for four regions, including the metropolitan area, Gangwon area, Jeolla area, and Gyeongsang area.
Through this, it is expected that about 6,000 kilometers of high-speed national highways and major cities that have been produced so far, along with about 20,000 kilometers of precise road maps centered on main roads nationwide as of the end of 2022, will be a key foundation element in the era of autonomous driving.
2020/11/19 — Administrative notice of amendment to the provision for temporary operation of AV
MOLIT announce that it will revise the provisional driving permit regulations to activate test operations such as shuttle without driver’s seat and unmanned autonomous vehicles without people and to support the mass production of level 3 autonomous vehicles.
By revising the provisional driving permit system, the types of autonomous vehicles were subdivided into existing car-type autonomous vehicles (Type A), autonomous vehicles without a driver’s seat (Type B), and unmanned autonomous vehicles that do not require a person to ride (Type C) and customized permit requirements for each type were newly established.
2020/11/22 — Designated an autonomous vehicle pilot zone
MOLIT held the “Autonomous Vehicle Pilot District Committee” to designate the first autonomous vehicle pilot operation district. The committee consists of six government members consisting of MOLIT and five government ministries, and 12 civilian members, experts in various fields such as automobiles, transportation, telecommunications, and cities. And six pilot districts (Seoul, Chungbuk, Gwangju, Daegu, and Jeju) were designated for the first time.
2020/12/15 — Announcement of three guidelines for ethics, security, and safety of AV
MOLIT announced ethical guideline, cybersecurity guideline, and safety guideline for level 4 autonomous vehicles production.
Amid intensifying global competition ahead of the full-fledged commercialization of autonomous vehicles, ethics of autonomous vehicle operating algorithms and cybersecurity to cope with hacking threats to autonomous vehicles are becoming increasingly important.
Due to the nature of these issues, institutionalization is difficult in a short period of time, so MOLIT has published guidelines* that suggest basic directions for security, ethics, and safety based on policy research and opinion gathering.
* Guidelines are recommendations, not mandatory.
- Ethical guideline for Autonomous Vehicle (Korean)
- Safety guideline for Level 4 AV manufacturing (Korean)
- Cybersecurity guideline for Automobiles (Korean)
2021
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy(MOTIE), the Ministry of Science and ICT(MSIT), the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport(MOLIT), and the National Police Agency(NPA) announced new tasks for 2021 of the pan-ministerial “Autonomous Driving Technology Development Innovation Project.”
Project goal: Completion of the foundation for commercialization of convergence level 4+ autonomous vehicles in 2027.
Project period and size: 2021~2027 / Total project cost of KRW 1.974 trillion (KRW 832 billion from the government)
Project details: A total of 84 tasks in 5 fields.
1) Vehicle Convergence New Technology
2) ICT Convergence New Technology
3) Road Traffic Convergence New Technology
4) Autonomous Driving Service
5) Autonomous Driving Ecosystem
※ Korea Herald News (English)
2021/06/29 — Establishment and confirmation of the first Basic Plan for Autonomous Traffic Logistics (2021~2025)
MOLIT announce it has prepared the “First Basic Plan for Autonomous Traffic Logistics” for the spread of autonomous vehicles and the development of an autonomous traffic logistics system over the next 5 years (2021~2025).
The first plan proposed the provision of services on highways and major hubs across the country as a goal by 2025, strengthening support for all stages of “technology development- demonstration-commercialization” of autonomous driving-based services to achieve vision and goals, and promoting technology acceptance and new industrial ecosystem.
Strategy 1: Advancement of autonomous transportation logistics service technology
Strategy 2: Creating a demonstration environment for autonomous transportation logistics services
Strategy 3: Creating a business environment for autonomous transportation logistics services
Strategy 4: Reinforcement of autonomous driving safety and enhance technology acceptance
Strategy 5: Establishment of an autonomous transportation logistics ecosystem
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport(MOLIT) and the Ministry of Science and ICT(MSIT) announced that they plan to complete consultations on the national construction plan of the next-generation intelligent transportation system (C-ITS) and form a joint C-ITS team jointly organized by the two ministries to implement the C-ITS nationwide construction.
C-ITS is a support infrastructure that allows vehicles-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-road to share traffic risk information from a distance longer than the vehicle sensor distance (150–200m), and the government has been pushing to build C-ITS on major roads nationwide from this year(2021).
In detail, the LTE-V2X method was demonstrated early(~2022), and a step-by-step plan was established to spread nationwide under a single standard after 2024 through a parallel method (WAVE+LTE-V2X) pilot project (~2023) on some highways.
In particular, the highway pilot project will be built in parallel to cope with volatility in international trends and secure competitiveness in the domestic automobile industry and autonomous vehicles, but the WAVE method will begin construction from the fourth quarter of this year and construction of the LTE-V2X method begins immediately after completion of its demonstration (expected at the end of 2022).
2021/12/23 — Preemptive regulatory overhaul to accelerate the commercialization of autonomous vehicles
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport(MOLIT) has prepared “Autonomous Vehicle Regulation Innovation Roadmap 2.0” for the prompt commercialization of autonomous vehicles and the development of related industries.
The featured contents of ‘Autonomous Vehicle Regulatory Innovation Roadmap 2.0’
With the launch of Level 3 autonomous driving vehicles in 2022, the era of fully autonomous driving will begin, and it is expected that Level 4 autonomous vehicles will be commercialized in 2027. Based on this future scenario, by 2030, a total of 40 regulatory innovation tasks are prepared, including 20 new tasks in three areas: vehicle, infrastructure, and service.
1. Short-term (2022–2023) major tasks
- Support for autonomous vehicle technology development and expansion of autonomous driving infrastructure
- Support for demonstration and advancement of autonomous driving services, such as granting various regulatory exceptions
1) Allow autonomous driving software over-the-air update (OTA)
2) Provision of pseudonymization standards to promote the use of autonomous driving image data
3) Establish an authentication management system to strengthen the security of autonomous driving cooperation system
4) Expansion of special cases for autonomous mobility service
2. Mid-term (2024–2026) major tasks
- Prepare safety standards for the launch of Level 4 autonomous vehicles (2027~) and Level 3 commercial vehicles
- Establishment of standards for insurance and traffic law violations for Level 4 autonomous vehicle operation
1) Complementary safety standards for Level 4 autonomous vehicles and Level 3 commercial vehicles (buses, trucks)
2) Establishment of administrative sanctions system for traffic violations
3) Revision of driver concept and deregulation of mandatory requirements
4) Supplementing Level 4 autonomous vehicle insurance regulations
5) Deregulation of autonomous driving vehicle classification to respond to new mobility
3. Long-term (2027–2030) major tasks
- Establishment of institutional foundation for the spread of Level 4 autonomous vehicles and popularization of autonomous driving services
1) Level 4 autonomous vehicle inspection/maintenance system established
2) New autonomous vehicle simple license
3) Deregulation of the classification system for passenger transportation business to introduce new services
Korea’s Autonomous policy is basically to create a convergence autonomous driving ecosystem that includes ICT technology. In the “2020 Autonomous Vehicles Readiness Index(AVRI)” released by KPMG in 2020, it has four evaluation items(Policy and legislation, Technology and innovation, Infrastructure, Consumer acceptance). Korea ranked 7th in the overall ranking, 16th in policy and legislation and 2nd in infrastructure. It received a lot of points for the development of autonomous driving technology based on ICT technology through a wide communication network based on 4G and 5G.
Due to current legal restrictions, many companies still have limitations in applying technology. For example, Autonomous delivery robots cannot move alone. It can only be operated in a specific area through a regulatory sandbox. Even in this case, crosswalks cannot move on their own. But the government is steadily talking about efforts to ease the law, it seems that more time is needed as the other countries.
In fact, there are lots of information(I didn’t mention upper) related to autonomous driving by MOLIT. If you want to refer to more policies and related news, please refer to the search results related to autonomous driving by MOLIT. Of course, it is Korean.
※ Some of the policies introduced upper were chosen by my personal opinion. Sure, the priorities for each policy may vary depending on the interest.
For reference, these are videos of a self-driving pilot service in progress in Korea. (You can watch it in your language using YouTube’s automatic translated subtitles feature).
- Autonomous driving pilot operation service in Gyeonggi-do
- Autonomous-based public transportation service in Sejong City
- Commercial autonomous driving service in Seoul
Over the Vehicle !!!
