"Demonstrations Must Lead to Commercialization"...Discussing Success Strategies for Gwangju Autonomous Driving City

Gwangju-Jeonnam Branch Seminar of the Korea Society for Automotive Mobility Safety
Exploring Industry-Academia-Research-Government Cooperation Strategies

The Gwangju-Jeonnam Branch of the Korea Society for Automotive Mobility Safety held the 'AI Autonomous Driving Mobility Demonstration City Success Strategy Forum' on August 27 at the Kim Dae-jung Convention Center.

Approximately 100 participants from the government, local governments, automotive and autonomous driving companies, universities, research institutes, and public agencies—spanning industry, academia, research, and government—attended the seminar and engaged in extensive discussions on policies, safety, technology development, the creation of a local industrial ecosystem, and commercialization strategies to successfully implement an AI autonomous driving demonstration city.

Participants are taking a commemorative photo at the 'AI Autonomous Driving Demonstration City Success Strategy Forum' held on the 27th at the Kim Dae-jung Convention Center in Gwangju, Jeonnam. Photo by Lee Seungjin

The seminar, hosted by the Gwangju-Jeonnam Branch of the Korea Society for Automotive Mobility Safety, was organized to review essential policies, regulations, and core technologies required to realize safe autonomous driving services in real urban environments, taking the promotion of the Gwangju-Jeonnam autonomous driving demonstration city as an opportunity, and to seek sustainable regional development strategies.

The event began with opening remarks from Cha Hyunrok, head of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Branch of the Korea Society for Automotive Mobility Safety, followed by a welcome speech from the society’s president, Ha Seongyong, and congratulatory messages from key guests. Subsequently, experts delivered presentations on the current status of autonomous driving demonstration cities, regional success strategies, and data-based safety technologies.

In the first presentation, Ko Hangum, Ph.D., from the Korea Transportation Safety Authority’s Automotive Safety Research Institute, introduced the status of the autonomous driving demonstration city project, outlining the main challenges and directions for its implementation.

Next, Professor Lee Cheonhwan of Chonnam National University emphasized the importance of linking local industry and research foundations with demonstration environments under the theme 'Regional Success Strategies for AI Autonomous Driving Demonstration Cities.' In addition, Professor Lee Gibum of Gachon University explained the necessity of data-based safety strategies in light of AI autonomous driving technology advancements, under the theme 'E2E Autonomous Driving Data-Centric Safety Strategy.'

During the main panel discussion, which was the centerpiece of the event and chaired by Ha Seongyong, representatives from the government, local governments, public institutions, research institutes, and autonomous driving companies intensely discussed the necessary conditions for ensuring that AI autonomous driving demonstration cities are connected to real industries and services.

Park Junghyuk, Director of the Autonomous Driving Policy Division at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, presented the national policy direction for AI autonomous driving, while Lee Donghyeon, Director of Future Vehicle Industry at the Gwangju-Jeonnam Integrated Metropolitan City, shared perspectives focused on advancing demonstration city initiatives.

Additionally, Noh Heeok, Head of the Innovation Strategy Task Force at the Gwangju Future Vehicle Mobility Promotion Agency, proposed ways to foster the autonomous driving industry ecosystem and local enterprises. Cheon Jeonghwan, Director at Korea Road Traffic Authority, discussed challenges related to autonomous driving traffic safety and accident response. Choi Seongjin, Director of the Gwangju Branch of Korea Automobile Research Institute, outlined AI autonomous driving core technologies and demonstration tasks.

From the industry sector, Han Ji-hyung, CEO of Autonomous A2Z, and Ko Youngha, Director of RideFlux, shared technical and regulatory challenges to consider in service implementation and commercialization, based on their real-world demonstration and business experiences in autonomous driving technology.

The attendees unanimously agreed that for the successful implementation of an autonomous driving demonstration city, not only technology development but also safety verification, securing demonstration data, regulatory improvements, the participation of local businesses, infrastructure development, and the discovery of service models must be organically interconnected.

They also highlighted the need for a collaborative system where the government, local governments, research institutes, and companies divide roles appropriately and continuously feed data obtained from the demonstration process back into technology development and safety policy to keep pace with the rapid advancement of AI autonomous driving technologies.

Ha Seongyong, President of the Korea Society for Automotive Mobility Safety, stated, “Through this forum, it was reaffirmed that realizing the success of AI autonomous driving demonstration cities requires discussions not only on technology development and demonstration but also on traffic safety, policies and regulations, the industrial ecosystem, and service commercialization. The society will continue to provide professional forums connecting the government, local governments, companies, and research institutes to contribute to the safe dissemination of autonomous driving technologies and the advancement of the mobility industry.”

The Gwangju-Jeonnam Branch of the Korea Society for Automotive Mobility Safety plans to use this seminar as an opportunity to further strengthen the industry-academia-research-government cooperation network related to autonomous driving demonstration cities, and to continuously address technical, safety, and regulatory issues arising during the demonstration process.

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