Busan Port Authority teams up with Hyundai Motor Group to advance AI smart port

Busan Port Authority has joined forces with Hyundai Motor Group to pursue technology cooperation aimed at building an AI-powered smart port.

The authority held a first-half technology exchange with Hyundai Motor Co. on Thursday at Zero One Studio in Gangnam, Seoul. BPA was represented by Executive Vice President Jeong Won-dong and staff from its Digital AI division. Hyundai Motor Group affiliates — Hyundai Glovis, Hyundai Rotem, Hyundai AutoEver, Hyundai Wia, Hyundai Kefico and Innocean — also attended, along with spin-off startups including Wearby, H Charging Research Institute, Poen, Wondermove and AutoL, to discuss potential cooperation in the port industry.

The event followed an MOU the two organizations signed last October on technology cooperation for AI-based smart port development and startup ecosystem expansion, and a subsequent AI smart port technology seminar BPA hosted in November.

At the exchange, BPA presented its progress and future plans for digital and AI transformation at ports, and shared key business plans for Chain Portal, its port-specific platform. Chain Portal is South Korea's first integrated port logistics platform, linking maritime, port and land data in real time via blockchain. It provides services including a port truck reservation system and Port-i, an AI-powered transshipment monitoring system.

The two sides explored cooperation across a range of fields, including AI, autonomous driving, robotics and eco-friendly energy technology. They focused particularly on deepening mutual understanding of Hyundai Motor's charging and energy ecosystem and the port industry, laying the groundwork for working-level discussions to define future collaboration.

BPA and Hyundai Motor plan to pursue phased cooperation progressing from proof-of-concept and pilot testing through joint research, demonstration projects and commercialization model development. The two organizations said they will use regular exchanges going forward to review cooperation tasks and develop concrete plans for port AI and digital transformation collaboration.