Large Budget Earmarked for Level 4 Autonomous Driving

Intra-smart city autonomous driving conceived by Aurora and Hyundai Motor Group

The South Korean government decided to invest 1,097.4 billion won in order to realize the world’s first Level 4 autonomous driving in 2027. In this year’s phase of the investment plan, more than 85 billion won will go to 53 relevant projects to be led by the four ministries including the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

According to the government, Level 3 vehicles are expected to come out within a couple of years. To reach the next level, innovative changes are required in information and communications technology and road traffic infrastructure as well as automobiles and auto parts.

According to the government’s plan, computing technology for autonomous driving, cognitive and predictive sensing, and the like will be developed by 2027 as the cores of Level 4. This year, 18.2 billion won will be invested in the development of 15 techniques and technologies, including self-driving vehicle platforms, high-performance AI computing and recognition sensor modules.

At the same time, 21 billion won will be spent in 13 projects for safety and intelligence enhancement, which include the development of AI software for cognition, determination and control and learning data collection and processing.