Kakao Mobility outlines Level 4 autonomous driving roadmap for physical AI

Kakao Mobility is planning to develop Level 4 autonomous driving technologies internally as part of its physical AI strategy.

At the 2026 World IT Show conference in Seoul's COEX, Kim Jin-kyu — vice president and head of Kakao Mobility's Physical AI division — presented the roadmap. His talk centered on autonomous driving services built around mobility platforms in the physical AI era.

The event, titled "Beyond Idea, Into Action: AI moves Reality," brought together 460 companies and organizations from 17 countries, according to Yonhap. South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT described the event as part of a broader shift toward physical AI, where AI is applied to physical industrial fields.

Kim noted that Kakao Mobility is working to combine autonomous driving technologies with physical infrastructure as part of its mobility strategy in Korea, and aims to establish an open autonomous driving ecosystem to strengthen local competitiveness.

According to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Level 4 autonomy refers to systems capable of handling driving within limited service areas without requiring passengers to monitor the road or take control. Such systems are typically deployed in defined zones, such as autonomous taxi areas or fixed districts.

Level 4 Roadmap

Kakao Mobility's Level 4 roadmap rests on three technology pillars: machine learning models, vehicle redundancy, and validation systems.

The company is developing machine learning models designed to handle perception, decision-making, and control without human input. These functions cover how an autonomous vehicle perceives its surroundings, makes driving decisions, and controls movement.

Kakao Mobility also plans to use vehicle architectures with redundant systems, allowing core functions to continue operating if a critical component fails.

Its validation platform will combine virtual simulations with real-world driving data. The system is intended to support testing, performance improvement, and quality assurance as the company develops autonomous driving services.

Safety and Control Systems

Kakao Mobility is also building an integrated safety management platform for autonomous vehicles. One component is the Autonomous Vehicle Visualizer, a 3D visualization tool that shares the vehicle's field of view in real time, allowing passengers to monitor driving conditions.

The tool shows what the vehicle is detecting during operation, providing passengers with the vehicle's driving context in real time.

The company plans to add a 24-hour control center and an anomaly detection system based on vision-language models. These systems are intended to support real-time context analysis, remote intervention, and emergency response.

The planned control center would monitor autonomous driving services after deployment. Kakao Mobility said the anomaly detection system will use vision-language models, but did not provide details on model architecture or performance.

Open Ecosystem Plan

Kakao Mobility also outlined plans to share selected technology assets with companies, startups, and manufacturers working on autonomous driving.

The assets include large-scale autonomous driving datasets, high-definition (HD) maps, and platform APIs for ride-hailing and dispatch. HD maps support autonomous driving by providing detailed road information used for localization and driving decisions.

The company said the asset-sharing plan would enable other industry participants to develop autonomous driving technologies without having to build all the underlying infrastructure independently.

Kakao Mobility also plans to share operational resources, including fleet management systems and on-site response capabilities. These are part of the company's effort to support an open domestic autonomous driving ecosystem.

Gangnam Service Data

The company highlighted its late-night autonomous vehicle service in Seoul's Gangnam district as an example of its current work. The service is available through the Kakao T platform, where users can access autonomous driving alongside existing mobility options.

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the Gangnam late-night autonomous taxi service recorded 7,754 rides from its launch on September 26, 2024, to February 28, 2026. The city reported no accidents attributed to autonomous driving technology during that period, and the service averaged about 24 trips per operating day.

The service transitioned from a free pilot to a paid operation in April 2026. Seoul also expanded the fleet from three to seven vehicles, excluding two reserve vehicles.

Users can request the service through Kakao T using either the Seoul Autonomous Car icon or the regular taxi-hailing menu. Kakao T combines multiple mobility services in one app, including taxi, navigation, and vehicle-related services.

The Gangnam service is accessed through Kakao Mobility's existing mobility platform.

See also: Hyundai expands into robotics and physical AI systems

Want to learn more about AI and big data from industry leaders? Check out the AI & Big Data Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. This comprehensive event is part of TechEx and co-located with other leading technology events. Click here for more information.

AI News is powered by TechForge Media. Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars here.