S. Korea builds 'K-City' for autonomous vehicle testing

SEOUL, Dec. 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has completed work on a "K-City," an unpopulated city for autonomous vehicle testing based on next-generation 5G mobile networks, the transport ministry said Monday. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has invested 12.5 billion won (US$11 million) to build the 320,000-square-meter mock urban area at the Korea Transportation Safety Authority in Hwaseong, southwest of Seoul, the ministry said in a statement. The K-City has five major testing environments -- highway, downtown road, suburban street, parking lot and community facilities -- for autonomous vehicles, the statement said. In particular, the 5G networks will allow companies, universities and research institutes to test a variety of connected car services in those different environments, the ministry said. In March, 188 companies, including Hyundai Motor Group, Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Telecom Co., set up a consultation committee for the development of autonomous vehicles, and they are expected to test their vehicles, products and connected technologies, it said. Advanced countries such as the United States and Japan already run similar cities for driverless vehicle testing. kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr (END)