Kakao Mobility Ramps Up Robotaxi Business... "To Hit the Streets of Seoul"

Developing Proprietary E2E Model...Collecting Data via Taxi Network
Hyundai Motor and Nvidia Also Join Gwangju Autonomous Driving Project

Kakao Mobility is set to fully launch its autonomous driving robotaxi business, leveraging its existing taxi network.

Jung Junho, a lawmaker of the Democratic Party of Korea, held a seminar at the National Assembly Members' Office Building on the theme "AI Autonomous Driving Demonstration City: From Technology to Service." Participants engage in discussion. Photo by Woo Suyeon

On the 11th, at a seminar on Gwangju City's autonomous driving pilot project held at the National Assembly Members' Office Building, Kim Geonwoo, Head of the Future Platform Research Institute at Kakao Mobility, said, "The vehicles we operate on our own will soon begin passenger service in Seoul," adding, "This year, we plan to increase the number of vehicles to as many as double digits."

He continued, "Based on our efforts to internalize data using Stris, the high-precision mapping startup we acquired, we are developing our own end-to-end (E2E) model," and emphasized, "Previously, we collected limited data only within the pilot zones, but now we are exploring ways to rapidly secure data in a short period by installing sensor kits on our taxi network."

In his congratulatory remarks, Ryu Geungseon, CEO of Kakao Mobility, said, "Since 2018, we have been interested in and investing in autonomous driving," adding, "Kakao Mobility will stand at the forefront and faithfully accompany the journey to make Gwangju a forward base for the global autonomous driving industry."

Earlier, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport decided to operate the entire city of Gwangju as a stage for autonomous driving demonstrations. With the goal of launching operations in October this year, it plans to select around three companies and allocate 200 autonomous vehicles among them in a differentiated manner according to their technological level. By collecting data on roads throughout Gwangju, the goal is to commercialize fully driverless robotaxis within three years.

Also attending the seminar were Kim Suyeong, Executive Director of the Mobility Business Division at Hyundai Motor Group, Jung Seokwon, Senior Executive Director for Enterprise Business at Nvidia Korea, and Jung Sangjun, Executive Director and Solutions Architect at Nvidia Korea in charge of technology.

Executive Director Kim said, "I believe it is highly meaningful that the government is creating such an excellent test bed and thereby creating an opportunity to enhance the nation's technological competitiveness," adding, "We intend to cooperate so that this project can become a safe service and to work hard to achieve our shared goals."

Senior Executive Director Jung said, "Where we are lagging behind the United States and China is in areas such as the artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and data they possess," and added, "Now, if we leverage AI models and thoroughly analyze edge cases, 200 vehicles can have the effect of 20,000. Gwangju will become an optimal training environment."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.