Following the news that South Korea has announced to inject KRW1.1 trillion (US$999m) to develop autonomous driving technologies;

Bakar Sadik Agwan, Senior Automotive Consulting Analyst at GlobalData, a leading research and consulting company, offers his view:

“In 2019, South Korea committed US$50.7bn to the autonomous vehicles industry by 2025 along with top OEMs, and later in 2020 further announced US$896m for the development of high automation technologies. The latest investment, which is focused on developing self-driving technologies as well as infrastructure development, will bring in several state ministry/agencies together to jointly finance autonomous projects and expedite their commercialization.

“The move unfolds significant opportunities and South Korea can gain competitive edge over the US and Europe. The growing de-dieselization and increasing prevalence of e-mobility globally paves way for commercialization of autonomous vehicles as the next milestone to be achieved. Furthermore, the presence of leading automotive groups such as Hyundai and tech companies such as Samsung, which are already under rigorous R&D around self-driving, strengthens South Korea’s capabilities to commercialize autonomous vehicles quickly. The country is already a leader in the mass-produced fuel cell electric heavy-duty trucks globally through Hyundai’s Xcient, and similar can be expected in the commercialization of autonomous technologies.

“South Korea has witnessed significant developments by OEMs, component makers and technology companies over past few years to overcome its technological deficiencies in some areas with foreign partnerships and expedite the autonomous vehicle development. The collective efforts will help the country to achieve its target of commercializing Level 4 autonomous vehicles by 2027 and Level 3 vehicles within a year or two.”