The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) has granted the country's first commercial permit for autonomous vehicle freight transport, marking the first commercialization of long-distance autonomous driving on expressways.
MOLIT announced Wednesday that it has issued a freight transport permit to Rideflux after the company passed the commercial freight transport permit evaluation. Starting in June, Rideflux will begin parcel delivery services at 90 kilometers per hour on a 112-kilometer route connecting a logistics complex in southeastern Seoul to Lotte Global Logistics' Jincheon Mega Hub Terminal.
The permit was issued following a public notice for autonomous vehicle commercial freight transport permit applications in February last year. The Korea Automobile Testing & Research Institute, the Korea Transport Institute and Korea Expressway Corporation conducted document reviews and on-site operational safety evaluations before issuing an approval.
For safety purposes, a test driver will initially be seated in the driver's seat during operations. The ministry plans to transition to unmanned autonomous driving in phases starting in 2027, progressing from stage one with a driver in the driver's seat, to stage two with an operator in the passenger seat, and finally to stage three with fully unmanned operations.
MOLIT plans to expand autonomous freight transport services to cities across the country including Jeonju, Gangneung and Daegu within this year. This marks an expansion of autonomous driving technology commercialization from passenger transport to the freight sector.
"The first permit for commercial autonomous vehicle freight transport is expected to be a major leap forward for commercialization in the freight transport sector this year," said Park Jun-hyung, Director General for Mobility and Automotive at MOLIT. "We will actively support the domestic autonomous driving industry to become competitive not only in passenger transport but also in freight transport."
