Autonomous a2z Achieves Global 11th in Self-Driving

Autonomous A2Z ranked 11th in the 2024 autonomous driving technology rankings announced by global market research firm Guidehouse Insights, proving the global competitiveness of South Korea's autonomous driving technology. After its first entry at 13th last year, it climbed two spots this year, achieving the remarkable feat of being the only Korean company to be listed for two consecutive years amidst an expanded evaluation pool of 20 companies and intensified competition. With this achievement, Autonomous A2Z has moved up from the Challengers group to the Contenders group. Guidehouse highly praised the company's strengths, including its potential for commercialization based on government policies, its expansion into overseas markets through global joint ventures, and its strategy to target the public transportation market with robo-shuttles. Specifically, high scores were given for its plan to commercialize the Level 4 autonomous shuttle 'ROii' (which has no driver's seat) in the second half of this year, its strategy to target overseas markets through joint ventures in Singapore and the UAE, and its 96% localization rate achieved through collaboration with excellent domestic component manufacturers like Samsung SDI. Autonomous A2Z is attracting even more attention for achieving these results with the lowest cumulative investment of 52 billion KRW among the 20 evaluated companies, amidst leading groups like Waymo, Baidu, and Mobileye, and formidable competitors such as NVIDIA and Motional. Han Ji-hyung, CEO of Autonomous A2Z, emphasized that the government's corporate support policies, such as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's promotion of Level 4 autonomous vehicle sales systems, and the free support from the Korea Transportation Safety Authority (KATRI) K-City testbed, were significant drivers of this achievement. This startup, founded by four engineers from Hyundai Motor Company in 2018, currently operates the most autonomous vehicles in South Korea, with 51 units, and has achieved an autonomous driving distance of 570,000 km. It is solidifying its position in the global market with a Korean-style strategy that targets the public transportation market with robo-shuttles rather than robo-taxis, and is proceeding with its business in line with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's 2027 roadmap for Level 4 autonomous driving commercialization.