"Call It, and It Comes Without a Driver"... Kia to Pilot PV5 Remote Driving in Pangyo
Accelerating the Commercialization of Remote Pickup and Drop-Off Services
Kia announced on October 16 that it will launch a pilot remote-driving car-sharing service using the PV5 in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, by the end of the year. It is the first case in South Korea of testing the commercial viability of remote-driving technology in an actual service environment.
Kia said on the 16th that it will launch a pilot remote-driving car-sharing service using the PV5 in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, by the end of the year. A Kia PV5 deployed for the pilot service is driving around the Second Pangyo Techno Valley. Kia.
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Kia announced on the 16th that it will launch a pilot remote-driving car-sharing service using the PV5 in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, by the end of the year. A remote-driving operator is remotely driving a vehicle from a station. Kia
View original imageKia, SUM, MobiOps, and the Korea Road Traffic Authority are participating in the project as a consortium. Gyeonggi Province, KT, Umos One, the Advanced Institute of Convergence Technology, and the Gyeonggi-do Car Rental Business Association are supporting the project as partner organizations.
Kia will provide PV5 vehicles and oversee the project; SUM will develop the remote-driving solution; MobiOps will operate the service; and the Korea Road Traffic Authority will assist with regulatory reviews. The business-to-business (B2B) pilot remote-driving car-sharing service will run for about three months for employees of companies based in Second Pangyo Techno Valley.
Users can book a vehicle through a dedicated app, and remote-driving technology will move it to the requested location without a driver inside. Users then take delivery of the vehicle, drive it themselves, park it at their preferred location, and return it. A remote-driving operator will then move the vehicle back to the depot.
Businesses can reduce the burden of owning and managing vehicles for work while improving vehicle utilization and space efficiency. Users can access a vehicle at their preferred location without visiting a separate pickup or drop-off location, making travel more convenient.
To ensure safe service operations, the partners have established a triple communications network to prepare for emergencies such as degraded signal quality or communication outages. They have also put in place a multilayered safety management system that includes training for remote-driving operators and an emergency response system.
The partners plan to verify the reliability of the remote-driving technology and the operational feasibility of the service, then use the data gathered to expand the service area in 2027 and accelerate the commercialization of PV5-based remote-driving services.
Kia has pursued various pilot projects and collaborations using remote-driving technology. In April 2025, it obtained a regulatory sandbox exemption from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for a remote-driving demonstration. In November 2025, it formed a “Remote-Driving Consortium” with Socar, KT, and autonomous-driving startup SUM and conducted pilot projects in Jeju and Hwaseong, among other locations.
In Jeju, Kia became the first automaker in South Korea to successfully demonstrate remote driving on public roads, completing its technology validation. In July 2026, it signed a “Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to Advance the Commercialization of Remote-Driving Technology” with KT and SUM and has been working with them toward a service launch by the end of the year.
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A Kia spokesperson said, “Remote-driving technology can be used not only for car-sharing services but also in a range of fields, including mobility support in areas with limited transportation infrastructure and services that make daily life more convenient.” The spokesperson added, “We plan to continue developing new mobility services by combining purpose-built vehicles (PBVs) with remote-driving technology.”
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