The taxi and mobility industry has agreed to cooperate on building an industrial ecosystem to shift corporate taxis to autonomous driving.

The National Federation of Taxi Transport Associations said on Sunday it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korean Society of Transportation, Hyundai Motor, Kakao Mobility, Autonomous A2Z, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance and Humax Mobility to pursue a transition to autonomous driving based on corporate taxi licences.

Under the agreement, the taxi and mobility industry will cooperate on creating an autonomous driving ecosystem based on taxi licences, shifting the taxi industry to autonomous driving, and improving policies and systems. Areas of cooperation include autonomous driving demonstration projects, responses to industrial transition, research cooperation and operation of the consultative body.

The consultative body will hold regular monthly meetings to monitor related policies and institutions and push joint proposals to the government. It has held three rounds of discussions through Jan. 8 since its first meeting on Nov. 21 last year on ways to build an industrial ecosystem for the shift of corporate taxis to autonomous driving.

With the agreement, the consultative body commissioned the Korean Society of Transportation to conduct a study titled "Research on establishing an autonomous driving-based taxi service model." Key topics include defining the concept of autonomous taxi services and reviewing domestic and overseas cases, outlining the roles of relevant organisations and the industry ecosystem, reviewing expected problems and solutions from the shift of corporate taxis to autonomous driving, and deriving implementation measures and a roadmap.

The consultative body plans to derive a K-autonomous driving cooperation model. Automakers will cooperate on autonomous driving demonstration projects, and autonomous driving companies will develop unmanned autonomous driving technology. Transport platforms will handle brokerage and monitoring for autonomous driving services. Existing licence holders will take on tasks such as commercialisation and operation of paid transport using autonomous vehicles, maintenance and upkeep including repairs and car washing, providing depots, and applying insurance products linked to mutual aid associations.

An official at the consultative body said it would devote all efforts to produce an optimal conclusion by proceeding with the research contract according to a pre-agreed schedule. The official said it would cooperate with each other in carrying out legislative and policy activities.