The Korea Times
Korea’s autonomous vehicle future will depend less on engineering progress than on whether the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the National Assembly reform the mobility market in advance. The government has sustained its goal of commercializing Level 4 autonomous driving or autonomous vehicle in defined settings by 2027 and has expanded testing zones and regulatory frameworks. Yet these efforts still operate within a passenger transport regime that prioritizes control of market entry control and protection of legacy taxi interests. Without structural reform, Korea risks importing advanced vehicle technology within a closed market design. The core of the constraints are legal and institutional. Under Article 49-3 of the Passenger Transport Service Act, platform transport operators must obtain permission from the land ministry. The framework introduced after the 2020 legislative revision led to a discretionary approval system in which regulators assess business plans based on transport demand, service characteristics, and expected impacts on existing taxi supply. Th
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