Google's Waymo Eyes South Korea Market Entry

Google's Waymo is exploring a potential entry into South Korea's autonomous taxi market, industry sources confirmed. While the country currently lacks regulations permitting robotaxi operations, analysts say Waymo's arrival is only a matter of time given ongoing deregulation efforts and the company's global expansion plans. With Google recently securing access to South Korea's high-precision maps, domestic autonomous driving companies are growing increasingly anxious about accelerating their technological development.

According to industry sources on May 18, Waymo has been engaging with South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport since last year through a local government relations firm, inquiring about autonomous driving regulations and introducing its technology. Waymo, now the largest robotaxi operator in the United States, announced in January it would "build the foundation to operate ride-hailing services in more than 20 cities this year, including Tokyo and London." The company has been conducting road tests in Tokyo since 2025 and plans to launch paid passenger services in London this year.

Industry observers believe Waymo is considering South Korea as part of its international expansion and is currently assessing the domestic policy landscape. However, Korean regulations currently provide no legal framework for unmanned autonomous driving companies like Waymo to operate taxi services. The taxi system operates under a "manned vehicle quota system," where local governments issue licenses to taxi companies or individual drivers within regional vehicle caps.

Limited paid autonomous transportation is permitted within designated autonomous vehicle pilot zones, but only 55 such zones exist nationwide. This limited scope makes commercialization difficult, leaving only Kakao Mobility and SWM as domestic companies offering paid autonomous taxi services. Both plan to launch paid services in Seoul's Gangnam District pilot zone starting in April. Pony Link (Future Link), which partners with Chinese autonomous driving company Pony.AI, remains in the domestic testing phase.

Regarding Waymo's activities, a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport official said, "It is the government's role to respond to regulatory inquiries from both domestic and foreign companies." The official added, "We have not received any performance certification applications from Waymo." The performance certification system, established last year, allows Level 4 autonomous vehicle manufacturers to conduct business-to-business transactions and represents a required step toward commercializing Level 4 vehicles. Waymo did not respond to email inquiries from this newspaper about its entry plans.

Nevertheless, industry consensus holds that Waymo will enter the Korean market once the regulatory framework is established. South Korea's well-developed telecommunications infrastructure makes it ideal for accumulating autonomous driving technologies such as V2X (vehicle-to-everything) communication. Seoul's high vehicle density also provides favorable conditions for collecting "edge cases." These factors make the market attractive to foreign autonomous driving companies. Some observers suggest Waymo may develop its Korean entry strategy based on its experience in Japan, which has similarly strict taxi licensing regulations.

Most significantly, government and private sector efforts to reform passenger transportation regulations for the autonomous driving era are gaining momentum. In January, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport launched a consultative body including taxi industry representatives, labor unions, platform companies, and autonomous vehicle firms to discuss robotaxi introduction. A mobility industry source said, "Introducing autonomous taxis won't be resolved easily due to conflicting interests, including taxi driver employment concerns." However, the source added, "Even the taxi industry increasingly recognizes that change is inevitable. Once regulations are reformed, foreign companies will rush to enter."

This situation has prompted calls to accelerate technology development at domestic autonomous driving companies. Korean autonomous driving firms have accumulated approximately 13.06 million kilometers in total driving distance, compared to Waymo's roughly 200 million kilometers, indicating a significant technological gap. Last month's government decision to allow Google to export 1:5,000 scale high-precision maps has further strengthened Waymo's foundation for advancing its technology. Another industry source warned, "If Waymo equips itself with domestic high-precision maps, catching up becomes even harder." The source added, "Korea must rapidly advance its technology using end-to-end AI and other methods to avoid becoming dependent on Waymo."