Future transport center to make UAM, autonomous vehicle transfer easy

The Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Metropolitan Area Transportation Committee said on Sunday that it would promote establishing a transfer center that would connect future means of mobility such as urban air mobility (UAM), self-driving cars, and personal mobility (PM), as well as railways and buses.

The committee will collect ideas publicly for pilot projects for a "future transfer center" (mobility-as-a-service station) for local governments starting Monday.

The committee decided to build the transfer center to make it easy for people to use seamless transfers in line with the commercialization of future means of mobility such as UAM and autonomous cars.

The finalists for the pilot project will be announced at the end of March next year. What local governments need to do is submit a basic plan including the scale of business in reflection of local conditions, types of connected mobility, transport facility layout plans, as well as financing plans.

An evaluation committee to be composed of external experts in fields such as transportation, urban planning, architecture, and civil engineering will assess the necessity and appropriateness of the project. Once selected, local governments will be supported with 1 billion won from the central government budget.

Kang Hee-eop, a standing member of the Metropolitan Area Transportation Committee, said, "The future transfer center is a regional growth base and a transportation hub that would underpin urban mobility," adding, "It will function as a core infrastructure that drives balanced regional development."

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com