Wins two categories at WSCE 2026
Recognized for hub-type smart city project
Operates autonomous buses, AI health care services
In Ulsan, an intelligent city, residents ride driverless autonomous buses and receive personalized, lifelong health care through AI-based health monitoring devices installed at welfare centers and other facilities.
Since August 2023, Ulsan has been carrying out a "hub-type smart city development project," building 14 services across four areas — mobility, energy, everyday convenience and data. These include a demand-responsive transport service that lets users summon a ride through a smartphone app, with AI generating the optimal real-time route. The project, backed by a total budget of 40 billion won ($29.8 million), is slated for completion by the end of this year.
For these achievements, Ulsan will receive the WSCE (World Smart City Expo) Awards in the domestic city category and the Smart City Excellent Enterprise Award in the local government category. The awards will be presented at the 10th World Smart City Expo (WSCE 2026), the largest international event of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region. The expo is co-hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Ministry of Science and ICT, and Busan, and runs from Wednesday to Friday at Bexco in Busan.
In this evaluation, Ulsan earned high marks for building an intelligent transportation system that links three services into a seamless network convenient for everyone to use. These are the autonomous-driving Gorae Bus, the app-summoned demand-responsive Ulsan Masil Gorae Bus, and Ulsan MaaS, which integrates all modes of transport to guide users along the optimal route.
At the expo, Ulsan will set up a promotional pavilion where visitors can experience firsthand its autonomous bus, intelligent resource-recovery machines, smart health care services and intelligent crosswalks. The city will also unveil its blueprint for a future-oriented, advanced intelligent city.
An Ulsan city official said, "We will create a model example of an intelligent city where all citizens enjoy a convenient life based on AI technology."
cityblue@heraldcorp.com
