Street Taxis to Ride-Hailing: A Decade, Kakao T's Future Vision

Kakao T, celebrating its 10th anniversary, looked back at its innovation journey and presented its vision for future mobility based on autonomous driving and AI at a special academic session during the Suwon ITS Asia-Pacific Congress. Ryu Geung-seon, CEO of Kakao Mobility, emphasized that Kakao T innovated the 'street-hail taxi' into a service that 'can be called at a desired time and place,' growing into an integrated transportation platform with 38 million cumulative subscribers. He defined the upcoming era of autonomous driving as a massive transformation comparable to the steam engine of the European Industrial Revolution, expressing his ambition to turn this into a new opportunity for Kakao Mobility. Park Sang-hyun, Head of Marketing, introduced the philosophy of 'win-win innovation,' including medical expense support for taxi and designated driver partners, and services for transportation-vulnerable individuals. He particularly stressed that Kakao Mobility would strengthen its corporate social responsibility through the launch of a win-win foundation, which will contribute 20 billion won over the next three years to foster shared growth with partners. Jang Sung-wook, Head of the Future Mobility Research Institute (VP), predicted that future mobility will evolve into a combined form of 'agentic AI' that is autonomous and proactive, and 'physical AI' that impacts life through actual actions. Kakao Mobility has been accumulating experience by demonstrating autonomous driving technology with leading domestic companies in locations such as Jeju and Pangyo since 2018, emphasizing that cooperation with major domestic and international companies and institutions is essential to protect technological and data sovereignty. In the subsequent comprehensive discussion, experts led by Professor Jeong Gu-min of Kookmin University participated and deeply discussed the changes in the mobility ecosystem in the era of autonomous driving and methods for collaboration among partners. Through this academic session, Kakao Mobility explored the direction that a homegrown mobility platform should take amidst a rapidly changing technological environment, and reaffirmed its commitment to lead in creating a sustainable future mobility ecosystem where technology and society are harmoniously connected. Beyond the digital transformation of Korea's mobility industry led by Kakao T, it is now preparing for a new decade's leap based on autonomous driving and AI technologies.