Seoul to inject $1 bn in level-4 autonomous car projects, promote chip specialists

[Photo by Yonhap]

South Korean government has detailed out its supports for the Big 3 industries, including 1.1 trillion won ($1 billion) investment on level-4 autonomous driving technology and nurturing 3,600 non-memory chip specialists by next year.

The support outline for Big 3 industries, namely future cars, non-memory chips, and biotech, was released by Hong Nam-ki, deputy prime minister and finance minister, on Thursday.

The government will inject 1.1 trillion won into the projects for advancing sensor, data communication and other key technologies for the commercialization of level-4 autonomous driving, where a car can handle most of driving situations independently with occasional takeover by human driver. It will also seek to locally produce the key parts used for level-3 autonomous cars, which global automakers have planned market releases this year.

The test grounds for level-4 and full-automation level-5 autonomous cars are to be established by the end of this year, and the next-generation cooperative-intelligent transport systems (C-ITS) is to be applied on 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) of national roads. The government aims to extend the coverage of new C-ITS to 30,000 kilometers by 2025. The C-ITS allows vehicles to communicate with other vehicles and infrastructure on accident-related information such as traffic conditions and sudden stop in real time.

Studies on safety standards and insurance structure for level-4 driving will be launched this year as well.

The government will also seek to expedite growth of non-memory chip industry by facilitating training of 3,683 non-memory chip professionals by next year. It will collaborate with local universities and tech firms on creating courses on non-memory and chip designing technologies. Previously, the Korean government vowed to nurture 17,000 specialists in non-memory chip technology by 2030.

As for biotech industry’s growth, the government’s review and approval process will be rationalized for speedier development of new products. Also, it will support pharmaceutical firms in upgrading their manufacturing facilities with latest technology.

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