Vueron Technology Signs MOU with Korea Expressway Corporation for Highway Autonomous Vehicle Pilot Zone

Vueron Technology, a LiDAR-based autonomous driving solution provider, announced on the 1st that it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Korea Expressway Corporation to facilitate the designation and operation of autonomous vehicle pilot zones on highways. The agreement also includes testing autonomous driving services in highway environments.

The MOU signing ceremony took place on the 31st of last month at the Korea Expressway Corporation’s EX Smart Center. The event was attended by Kim Yoobok, head of the R&D division at Korea Expressway Corporation, and Jaekwang Kim, CEO of Vueron Technology, along with other representatives from both companies.

Jaekwang Kim, CEO of Vueron Technology, stated, “Through this MOU, both companies will establish an organic partnership to verify the safety and efficiency of autonomous vehicles by operating Vueron’s LiDAR-based autonomous driving solutions, while also promoting the activation of the autonomous driving industry utilizing highways.”

In this project, Korea Expressway Corporation will be responsible for constructing the necessary infrastructure to support safe autonomous driving and will provide service support facilities. Vueron Technology will operate autonomous logistics services on highway sections, collecting driving data to ensure safe operations.

The autonomous vehicle pilot zones, first introduced in May 2020, are designated areas where regulatory exceptions are applied to promote research and testing of autonomous vehicles. As of June 2023, 24 zones are operating in 15 cities and provinces across South Korea.

Korea Expressway Corporation is working to secure approval for autonomous vehicle pilot zones on highway sections by the first half of next year.

Vueron has grown significantly since securing seed funding from Naver’s D2 Startup Factory (D2SF) and raising 10 billion KRW in pre-Series A funding from KDB Bank. Earlier this year at CES 2023, Vueron launched its eco-friendly autonomous truck solution, VueTruck, and successfully completed six months of autonomous driving trials from a logistics center in Icheon to Pangyo, operating six days a week without incidents.

In addition to its domestic operations, Vueron has expanded internationally by establishing subsidiaries in Silicon Valley, USA, and Munich, Germany. The company provides differentiated LiDAR-based autonomous driving solutions, such as VueOne for autonomous driving and VueTwo for intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and smart infrastructure.

Jaekwang Kim added, “By operating actual services within the highway autonomous vehicle pilot zones, we aim to explore ways to improve the autonomous driving environment on highways and contribute to the activation of practical autonomous driving services.”