Korea to spend $1 bn to roll out Level 4 autonomous car by 2027

South Korea will spend nearly 1.1 trillion won ($1 billion) to develop autonomous vehicle technologies and build related infrastructure with a goal of a commercial rollout of a Level 4 self-driving car by 2027.

Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the Korean National Police Agency will jointly finance the country’s bold future mobility technology project, calling for the participation of local carmakers and auto parts makers.

Currently, the country’s autonomous driving technology is at Level 2 designed to assist human driving. A Level 3 cars capable of conditional autonomous driving but requires driver intervention in case of an emergency is expected to be available within the next one to two years.

A Level 4 vehicle can complete an entire journey without human intervention, and Level 4 car requires innovative changes not only in vehicle itself, but also in information and communication technology (ICT) and road systems.

The government aims to complete the foundation of 'Convergence Level 4 Fully Autonomous Driving', which encompasses vehicle driving, transportation infrastructure, and services, by 2027. Under its plan, the Korean government will finance 84 related projects in five areas: New vehicle convergence technology, new ICT convergence technology, new road traffic convergence technology, service creation, and the establishment of an industrial ecosystem.

This year, the government will kick off 15 tasks with a budget of 18.2 billion won, including the development of core cognitive sensor modules, artificial intelligence (AI)-based high-performance computing technology, and autonomous vehicle platforms.

These tasks aim to increase the level of autonomous driving from 82 percent in 2018 to over 93 percent in the future.

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