MasAuto, a self-driving truck startup, said Tuesday it will expand its autonomous truck business in the United States with support from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE).
The company has been selected for the "Regulatory Sandbox-Based New Industry Creation" program run by the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) under MOTIE. Through the program, MasAuto will pursue research and development worth 2 billion won over the next two years. The initiative supports follow-up technology development and commercialization for businesses whose market viability has been verified through regulatory sandbox pilots.
The company will also participate in the national artificial intelligence project "SDV Transition and AI Future Vehicle E2E Autonomous Driving Model Advancement." Through this initiative, MasAuto has secured AI training infrastructure based on Nvidia's Blackwell platform.
Earlier, based on MOTIE's regulatory sandbox, MasAuto partnered with major domestic logistics companies and institutions to launch Korea's first autonomous driving-based paid freight transport service in 2023. The company has since operated a cumulative total of eight regular routes, securing more than 15 million kilometers of driving data. It is accumulating more than 2,000 hours of real-world driving data per day on average.
In the U.S., MasAuto is focusing on advancing long-haul freight transport based on a "Team Korea" framework built with domestic manufacturers and logistics firms. The company has carried out autonomous transport on a roughly 3,379-kilometer fixed route connecting the Port of Long Beach in California to Alabama and Georgia. Building on this project, MasAuto plans to expand its autonomous truck fleet, gradually extend fixed routes, and accelerate E2E AI training based on U.S. road conditions.
"This project is an important milestone in which the government, large corporations and startups have collaborated as one team to expand the achievements of paid transport based on Korea's regulatory sandbox into the global market," said Park Il-soo, CEO of MasAuto. "With a practical foundation in place for autonomous trucks carrying our technology to transport cargo exported from Korea to the U.S., we plan to unveil meaningful achievements in Korea as well during the first half of the year, including the expansion of fixed routes."
