Hwaseong Special City Hosts 'Autonomous Driving Living Lab Citizen Briefing'

Hwaseong Special City (Mayor Jung Myung-keun) held a 'Autonomous Driving Public Service Demonstration Inauguration and Living Lab Eight-Field Service Citizen Briefing' on the 26th at the Modum Nooreum Center, with approximately 50 attendees including the Director of Advanced Industry, officials from the Autonomous Driving Technology Development and Innovation Project Group (KADIF), Korea Road Traffic Authority (KATRI), and Korea Intelligent Transportation Systems Association (ITSK), as well as citizens.

The 'Hwaseong Special City Autonomous Driving Living Lab' is one of the inter-ministerial autonomous driving research and development (R&D) projects being promoted by the government with a total investment of 1.1 trillion won from 2021 to 2027. The project involves integrated demonstration of developed autonomous driving technology and public services in actual urban spaces.

The eight major public services subject to demonstration are: △mobility support for the transportation disadvantaged △demand-responsive transport (DRT) △autonomous shared vehicles △urban environmental management △emergency road restoration and traffic support △emergency vehicle traffic support △route-based autonomous buses △traffic accident prevention patrols.

The city plans to gradually expand autonomous driving public services, starting with the operation of autonomous mobility support services for the transportation disadvantaged. In September, it will launch shared vehicle and route-based autonomous bus operations and hold a citizen briefing, and in October, it will begin demand-responsive transport operations and hold related citizen briefings.

Through December 2027, the city will fully operate and demonstrate autonomous driving public services in the eight fields. During this process, it plans to continuously collect citizen feedback to enhance the completeness of the technology and services.

Kim Sun-il, Director of the Advanced Industry Division, stated, "The autonomous driving living lab is significant in that citizens directly use and evaluate developed technology in real urban settings," and added, "We will faithfully reflect citizen usage experience and feedback in the demonstration process so that autonomous driving technology can lead to improved public services that enhance citizen daily life in terms of mobility convenience and urban safety."