A stretch of suburban roads southwest of Seoul is being turned into a real-world laboratory for self-driving technology, as the government moves to push autonomous vehicles out of test tracks and into everyday life. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it will open an “AI (artificial intelligence) autonomous driving hub” Friday in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, where self-driving services will be tested not just for transportation but also for a range of city management tasks. The project is part of a broader government initiative to accelerate future mobility and build so-called “K-AI cities,” integrating AI into urban infrastructure. The testing zone spans 36.13 square kilometers in western Hwaseong with a total road network of 46.5 kilometers. Within the area, autonomous systems will be deployed to support mobility for vulnerable groups, carry out street cleaning, monitor road conditions and even transport emergency patients. The ministry said the hub will serve as a control center built on an intelligent transportation system, designed to address the limitati