South Korea spends 28 billion won to develop autonomous driving technology for environmentally friendly cars
On January 26, South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy stated that it would invest nearly 28 billion won (US$25.3 million) in research and development projects for environmentally friendly vehicles and autonomous driving technologies to complement the country’s green energy development plan.
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2021 Kona Electric (Image source: Hyundai)
It is reported that South Korea plans to allocate 13.4 billion won for research and development projects of electric vehicles and hydrogen-fueled vehicles. It is expected to conduct more in-depth research on the production of lighter electric vehicle batteries to improve fuel efficiency and seek ways to recycle used second-hand batteries. Batteries; another 14.5 billion won is used for research and development projects for autonomous driving systems.
These budgets will be used for a wide range of projects, including the development of large-scale commercial hydrogen energy vehicles, and the development of self-driving mobile medical clinics and stores.
South Korea plans to increase the market share of electric vehicles and hydrogen energy vehicles to 33% by 2030, a sharp increase from 2.6% in 2019. By 2025, the cumulative sales of electric vehicles and hydrogen-fueled vehicles in South Korea will rise to 1.13 million and 200,000, respectively. As of September 2020, the cumulative sales of the two types of vehicles are 120,000 and approximately 9,500, respectively.
