Kia launches Korea's first remote-driving car-share pilot — SkimNews
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- Kia launched South Korea's first remote-driving car-sharing pilot using the PV5 electric van on Thursday in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, running through the end of the year.
- The service lets users reserve via a dedicated app; vans self-drive to the requested location without a driver, and a remote driver returns them to the garage via 4G/5G after the user finishes.
- SUM, the autonomous driving startup, is developing the remote driving solution while Mobiops handles service operations and the Korea Road Traffic Authority assists with regulatory reviews.
- Kia formed a Remote Driving Consortium with Socar, KT, and SUM in November 2025, and signed an MOU with KT and SUM in July to promote commercialization within a year.
- The pilot follows a special exemption Kia received from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport last April under a remote driving regulatory sandbox.
- Kia plans to use pilot data to expand the service in 2027, accelerating commercialization of PV5-based remote driving.
Why it matters: Kia says the pilot can help businesses improve efficiency and reduce fleet-ownership burdens — if the year-end trial proves out, the company targets a 2027 commercial rollout that would turn PV5 vans into self-relocating fleet assets, with KT, SUM, and Mobiops positioned to supply the underlying infrastructure.
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