Kakao Mobility said on the 23rd that it took part in the 2026 ITS World Congress in Gangneung as an official sponsor, showcasing its artificial intelligence and data-driven mobility technologies and its vision for the future.
The ITS World Congress, the world's largest event dedicated to transportation technology, was held in South Korea for the first time in 16 years. Kakao Mobility hosted an exclusively sponsored session under the theme "Redefining Urban Parking: Smart City Infrastructure Connected Through AI and Data." The session, held on the 22nd and chaired by Park Dong-ju, president of the Korean Society of Intelligent Transport Systems, covered nine years of business results and technology behind Kakao T Parking, along with the social value the service has created in cities.
Park Eun-ho, head of the Platform & Commerce business division at Kakao Mobility, outlined how the company has connected parking facilities nationwide into a single platform since launching the service in 2017. He highlighted the introduction of barrier-free exits, which let drivers leave without stopping thanks to automatic payment, and the country's first cloud-based parking control system. The company recently signed a proof-of-concept contract for Saudi Arabia's Diriyah smart city project, marking a push into overseas markets.
Seo Jung-hoon, a director on the DeepAI team, presented AI technology that uses cameras to identify license plates and parking spaces, as well as 3D indoor and outdoor spatial mapping and digital twin technology. The director laid out a blueprint for developing parking facilities, long isolated from one another, into connected urban infrastructure monitored and operated in real time.
Kim Gun-woo, head of the Future Platform Economy Research Institute, closed the session by presenting an analysis of about 1.62 million parking-related data records. Platform-based parking technologies such as the Kakao T parking pass and automatic payment proved effective at easing bottlenecks when vehicles leave, cutting the interval between departing cars by up to about 20%.
Kakao Mobility also joined academic technology sessions during the congress to share its research findings. The company took part in a Korea-Netherlands joint conference on smart mobility and met with senior officials from the Czech Ministry of Transport. It also added a dedicated pickup point for the Gangneung Olympic Park congress venue to k.ride, a mobility app for foreign visitors. In recognition of these contributions, the organizing committee presented the company with a plaque of appreciation as an official sponsor.
"The Gangneung ITS World Congress was a meaningful opportunity to share Kakao Mobility's AI and data capabilities and research results with transportation officials from around the world," said Hwang Yoon-young, head of compliance management at Kakao Mobility. "We will continue to advance our parking technology, which will serve as essential infrastructure supporting urban transportation and a hub for future mobility in the era of autonomous driving, and aggressively expand into global markets."