![Key participants pose for a photo before signing an MOU for the autonomous driving pilot city development project at the Kim Dae-jung Convention Center in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, on May 13. From left: Han Ji-hyung, CEO of Autonomous A2Z; Park Min-woo, president and head of Hyundai Motor and Kia's AVP division; Jeong Yong-sik, chairman of the Korea Transportation Safety Authority; Kim Yun-deok, minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport; Kang Gi-jeong, then mayor of Gwangju; Lee Mun-hwa, president of Samsung Fire; and Park Jung-hee, CEO of Ridecell. [Hyundai Motor]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/08/24/news-p.v1.20260513.b6457627015342198cb83167bf84b9c9_P1.jpg)
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Monday that a government roadmap to sharply expand the number of cities designated for autonomous driving AI pilots — building on the existing site in Gwangju, South Jeolla Province — was approved at the 12th Science and Technology Ministers' Meeting.
The meeting, chaired in written form by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Gyeong-hun, reviewed and approved three agenda items, including the "Autonomous Driving AI Demonstration and Commercialization Roadmap."
The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry's roadmap, listed as the meeting's first agenda item, outlines measures to improve the performance and versatility of domestically developed autonomous driving AI.
To close the technology gap with the United States, China and other leading countries in autonomous driving — a flagship physical AI industry combining automobiles and AI — the government plans to significantly expand the scale and geographic scope of pilot operations beyond the Gwangju site to accumulate large volumes of driving data.
The government also plans to develop a profit-sharing model involving the transportation industry, labor unions, autonomous driving companies and platform operators, and to build an ecosystem in which upstream and downstream industries — including insurance, traffic control, fleet management and maintenance — can grow together. A field-response system will also be established to ensure safe operations and swift accident response at pilot sites.
The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry plans to work with related ministries — including the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korean National Police Agency — to comprehensively advance autonomous driving technology development, pilot programs and regulatory reform. It also intends to build a pan-government cooperation framework through the National AI Strategy Committee to support the early commercialization of autonomous driving AI.
The ministers' meeting also approved South Korea's AI ethics principles and a strategy to promote deep tech startups.
smh@heraldcorp.com
