South Korea will set up safety standards and an insurance system for the launch of Level 4 autonomous vehicles in the country by next year, the transport ministry said on Sunday.
Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Won Hee-Yong also said the government will “dramatically” ease regulations involving autonomous cars, at this year’s ‘CES 2023‘ in Las Vegas, reports Yonhap news agency.
Motional is a 50-50 joint venture set up in 2020 between Hyundai Motor Co. and U.S. mobility startup Aptiv to test fully autonomous vehicles for ride-hailing services.
In October, Motional signed a 10-year deal to supply Hyundai’s IONIQ 5-based autonomous vehicles to U.S. ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies Inc.
Under the deal, Motional began to supply the all-electric IONIQ 5 driverless Robo taxis to Uber late last year.
The IONIQ 5-based Robo taxis are currently available for the 15-minute drive between Luxor Hotel and Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas.
Uber plans to operate the Level 4 IONIQ 5 Robo taxis for car-hailing and delivery services in the United States for the next 10 years and explore opportunities to advance to other markets with Robo taxis.
At Level 4, a vehicle can drive itself under limited conditions and will not operate if all required conditions are not satisfied. At Level 5, a vehicle’s automated driving features can drive under any conditions.
