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South Korea
Intelligence for Better Decision Making
Hyundai Launches Domestic AI-Driven Autonomous Vehicle Initiative for 2028 Commercialization
Jan. 13, 2026 | Technology & InnovationHyundai Motor and its partners are developing a domestically engineered AI-driven autonomous vehicle set for commercialization by 2028.
**Hyundai aims to integrate a homegrown AI autonomous driving model to manage core vehicle functions, narrowing the technological gap with global automakers and boosting its competitiveness.**
LG Electronics, Hyundai Mobis and HL Mando will jointly build the ADV platform—combining vehicle architecture and software—by the end of next year, while HL Clemoove and Kakao Mobility develop a specialized AI model for software-defined vehicles by 2027. Additional partners including Naver will support data integration and AI infrastructure.
**Mass production of the ADV is scheduled to begin in 2028, with broader applications rolling out by 2030 to strengthen South Korea’s AI mobility ecosystem.**
Hyundai plans to announce key milestones at the K-AI Future Car Alliance signing ceremony in January 2026. Chairman Chung Eui-sun has stressed the strategic shift toward in-house AI development to position Hyundai as a world-class automaker and reduce reliance on external solutions.
**In parallel, Hyundai is expanding its AI capabilities through collaborations in robotaxi and robotics.**
Partnerships with Motional and Boston Dynamics will foster AI expertise transferable across mobility and robotics ventures. Naver will extend mobility services by integrating AI agents, infrastructure and data to support future vehicle ecosystems.
**Gwangju city will serve as South Korea’s first autonomous driving testbed, hosting around 200 AI-equipped robot vehicles from mid-2026.**
Backed by a 62.2 billion won national investment, these vehicles will collect urban driving data in snow, rain, congestion, construction zones and narrow alleyways to refine autonomy algorithms and enhance performance.
**The K-Autonomous Driving Collaboration Model in Gwangju pairs large corporations developing vehicle control platforms with startups providing autonomous driving software.**
The downtown area will act as a demonstration zone, leveraging an existing national AI data center and a major driving simulator in Advanced Industrial Complex 3. Plans call for a triangular industrial belt linking Jingok, Bitgreen and the Future Car Industrial Complexes, later expanding citywide to mirror global autonomous driving hubs.
**Government support includes regulatory easing within designated autonomous driving pilot zones to encourage industry participation.**
These measures align with the national Master Plan to Foster the Future Car Materials, Parts, and Equipment Industry and aim to build a sustainable ecosystem that drives long-term local economic growth.
Motional advances full driverless robotaxi rollout in Las Vegas for 2026
Jan. 13, 2026 | Transportation & LogisticsFully driverless Level 4 robotaxi services promise to redefine urban transportation in major cities.
**Motional, a majority Hyundai Motor Group joint venture, plans to launch fully driverless Level 4 robotaxi services in Las Vegas by the end of 2026.**
Since early 2026, the company has run pilot services with modified Hyundai IONIQ 5 vehicles alongside ride-sharing platforms such as Uber and Lyft to validate safety, driving quality, and customer experience before full commercialization.
**The company’s autonomous driving efforts began in 2018, with pilot programs in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Singapore.**
Motional chose Las Vegas for its dense traffic and high tourist volume, creating rigorous test conditions. To date, it has provided more than 130,000 public rides and logged over 2 million autonomous miles without any at-fault incidents. A fleet of 109 vehicles operates under daily monitoring by a central control team based in Las Vegas.
**Motional follows a safety-first approach, meeting US NHTSA Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and earning validations from German testing and certification bodies.**
Its robotaxis integrate 29 sensors—including cameras, radar, and LiDAR—for multimodal redundancy. On January 8, 2026, a 35-minute Level 4 test drive in Las Vegas demonstrated the vehicle’s advanced perception and decision-making: it detected a flying plastic bag, stopped, activated hazard lights, and smoothly navigated commercial districts, tourist areas, hotels, and the busy Strip. The only issue noted was noticeable computer fan noise inside the cabin, which the team will resolve before commercialization.
**Motional is shifting from a modular autonomous architecture to an end-to-end AI and machine learning system that unifies perception, decision-making, and control into a single model.**
This new approach aims to boost performance in complex settings, reduce software complexity, speed up updates, and support global scalability. Current pilot vehicles operate both architectures in parallel to gather data and refine the end-to-end system.
**Hyundai Motor Group will integrate Motional’s Level 4 operational know-how and safety systems with 42dot’s software-defined vehicle platform to strengthen its autonomous driving capabilities.**
Having invested approximately $3 billion in development, Motional is also evaluating service expansion into South Korea and other markets based on insights gained from its US rollout.
Monitored Intelligence for South Korea - Jan. 14, 2026
News
Media
281
Government
Releases
8
City/State
Releases
30
Embassy
Releases
0
Foreign
Service
Advisories
0
Service
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Erudite Risk takes an all risks approach to intelligence reporting. We categorize key intelligence into one of 40 different risk intelligence categories.
The goal is to provide intelligence that allows decision makers to avoid being blindsided by what they may have missed, while informing them to make better decisions as well.
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16
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7
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5
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4
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1
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We categorize key intelligence into one of 30 different operations intelligence categories.
Different roles and functions within the organization can monitor different key issue areas. HR may monitor employment, wages, regulations, labor and management relations, etc., while P&L leaders may monitor overall developing trends.
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22
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11
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6
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MS, 공공 SaaS 진입 가시화되나…업계 "외산 솔루션 확산은 아직 더뎌"
MS, Public SaaS Entry Becoming Visible…Industry Says Spread of Foreign Solutions Still Slow
ZD Net Korea | Local Language | News | Jan. 14, 2026 | UndeterminedTech Development/Adoption
Microsoft (MS) is advancing efforts to enter the public Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) market in South Korea with its Microsoft 365 (M365) offering. The company is reportedly pursuing the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) Cloud Security Assurance Program (CSAP) "Ha" grade certification for M365. Achieving this certification would mark MS as the first global tech giant to actively seek entry into the public SaaS market, enabling M365’s introduction in public institutions even in network-isolated environments.
Despite this progress, industry experts note that institutional certification does not guarantee rapid market adoption. While foreign cloud services such as Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and MS Azure have obtained certifications in the infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) domain, actual penetration in the public sector remains limited. SaaS, which involves direct linkage of public institution work data to external services, poses greater security and accountability challenges than IaaS, making adoption more cautious and slow.
A domestic cloud industry official pointed out that although major IaaS providers have secured procurement registrations and partial market entry, contract wins or practical usage within public institutions have been negligible. This official suggested that even if M365 secures its Ha grade certification in the SaaS domain, similar slow uptake can be expected.
The push for SaaS Ha grade certification by MS is seen as a strategic move following Azure’s earlier attainment of the IaaS Ha grade, which helped establish an institutional foundation for public sector entry. However, MS and KISA have declined to confirm details about the application or assessment process. Industry insiders emphasize that beyond certification, actual use cases and trust are critical factors for foreign SaaS solutions to gain meaningful traction in the public sector, predicting that broad adoption will require significant time even after regulatory approval.
S. Korea completes flight tests for homegrown KF-21 fighter jet
Yonhap | English | News | Jan. 14, 2026 | Geopolitical Conflict and Disputes
South Korea has completed all planned flight tests for its KF-21 fighter jet, marking a significant milestone for the country's first homegrown advanced aircraft. Since the first prototype’s rollout in April 2021, approximately 1,600 flight tests have been conducted without any accidents, with the final test occurring on January 12, 2026. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) noted that the testing phase was accelerated by about two months through expanded test venues and inclusion of air-to-air refueling.
The KF-21 program, launched in 2015, aims to replace South Korea’s aging fleet of U.S.-made F-4 and F-5 jets with a supersonic homegrown fighter. Development is set to be completed by mid-2026, with the first production batch expected to be delivered to the South Korean Air Force in the second half of the year. The first production model entered final assembly in May 2025, and future upgrades include fitting the jets with ground attack capabilities starting in 2027.
Lee says S. Korea, Japan should explore new areas of cooperation to deepen ties
Yonhap | English | News | Jan. 14, 2026 | UndeterminedBizdev-Partnering
President Lee Jae Myung emphasized the importance of South Korea and Japan as partners sharing common values and highlighted the potential for deepening bilateral ties through exploring new areas of cooperation. He made these remarks in an interview with Japan's NHK ahead of his summit with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in Nara Prefecture.
The upcoming meeting will be Lee's fifth summit with a Japanese prime minister since taking office in June 2025. The visit to Nara is part of "shuttle diplomacy" efforts to maintain momentum in improving relations between the two countries. This summit follows Lee's recent state visit to China and comes amid ongoing regional tensions involving Beijing and Tokyo.
Discussions during the summit are expected to cover a wide range of regional and global issues, including North Korea, as well as cooperation in economic, social, and cultural fields, according to South Korea's presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae.
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