The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) held the ninth meeting of its Mobility Innovation Committee and approved regulatory exemptions for 13 applications to test new mobility technologies and services aimed at improving daily convenience and strengthening disaster response.
The regulatory sandbox program allows new technologies and services that cannot reach the market under existing laws to be tested and verified in advance. Companies granted exemptions receive testing opportunities for up to four years, split into an initial two years plus a two-year extension. If safety and effectiveness are demonstrated, the services can be launched commercially through revisions to the relevant laws.
Helicopters, the main tool for fighting wildfires, have been barred from flying at night because of poor visibility, often causing firefighters to miss the critical early window for containment. Operating multiple drones in a swarm had also been permitted only on a limited basis because of safety concerns. Under the new exemption, nighttime and beyond-visual-line-of-sight wildfire suppression services are now allowed, making it possible to deploy drones fitted with water bags at wildfire sites after dark.
The exemption also allows mobile flagger robots equipped with self-driving technology to be deployed directly at highway construction sites in place of human workers. By granting the robots an exemption from road traffic laws, the ministry expects the technology, once commercialized, to reduce casualties and replace workers in high-risk tasks.
In the areas of traffic safety and eco-friendly transport, tests will also begin on adjustable rear underrun protection devices, which reduce damage when a vehicle slides beneath a truck in a rear-end collision, and on plug-in hydrogen hybrid buses that use both hydrogen fuel cells and batteries.
In customized transport services, trials will cover demand-responsive transport (DRT) buses connecting students commuting to school and vulnerable groups to their local areas, replacement vehicle rental services for truck and delivery drivers involved in accidents, and platforms for sharing idle vehicles within apartment complexes.
Park Joon-hyung, director general of the ministry's Mobility and Automobile Bureau, said the latest exemptions focus on advanced disaster response technologies and mobility services that people can feel in their daily lives. Park added that safety management will be the top priority during the testing process and that the ministry will continue working to bring verified technologies into the regulatory framework quickly.