KOTSA partners with TNO to validate autonomous driving technology

[Courtesy of KOTSA]

The Korea Transportation Safety Authority (KOTSA) announced a partnership with the Netherlands Organization of Applied Scientific Research (TNO) to collaborate on the validation and demonstration of connected autonomous driving technologies.

The partnership agreement was signed on October 5 at the Korea Automobile Testing and Research Institute under KOTSA, located in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. Key figures from both organizations, including Eom Sung-bok, KOTSA’s research head, were present at the ceremony.

Founded in 1932, the Netherlands-based TNO is a renowned research institution with a workforce of over 3,400 researchers. TNO engages in national-level research across various domains, including autonomous driving, energy, defense, and advanced industries, and is actively involved in European Union (EU)-led research related to cooperative, connected, and automated mobility (CCAM) safety assessments.

Under the partnership, the KOTSA will conduct experiments integrating real-world and virtual environments at its autonomous driving test city, or K-City. The collaboration also involves sharing a process for objective safety assessments in both physical and virtual environments.

“We aim to enhance K-City’s functionality and utility for the commercialization of autonomous vehicles while leveraging international cooperation opportunities,” KOTSA President Kwon Yong-bok said.

“We also intend for this agreement to serve as a catalyst for domestic autonomous driving companies to actively enter the European market.”