Joint pilot to span national highway network

Rest stops to serve as next-gen charging testbeds

Physical AI targets road maintenance and safety

Cho Seong-min, head of the Korea Expressway Corporation's Road and Traffic Research Institute, left, and Jung Ho-keun, executive vice president and head of Hyundai Motor Group's Future Strategy Division, pose after signing an MOU at the Hyundai Motor and Kia headquarters in Yangjae, Seoul, on Wednesday. [Hyundai Motor Group]
Cho Seong-min, head of the Korea Expressway Corporation's Road and Traffic Research Institute, left, and Jung Ho-keun, executive vice president and head of Hyundai Motor Group's Future Strategy Division, pose after signing an MOU at the Hyundai Motor and Kia headquarters in Yangjae, Seoul, on Wednesday. [Hyundai Motor Group]

South Korea's national expressways and highway rest stops are set to become a large-scale testing ground for Hyundai Motor Group's next-generation EV charging technology and physical AI. The automaker plans to pilot expanded charging infrastructure while also exploring how robots and other physical AI systems can be deployed in road maintenance.

Hyundai Motor Group announced Thursday that it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korea Expressway Corporation on Wednesday at the Hyundai Motor and Kia headquarters in Yangjae, Seoul, to cooperate on "research and pilot programs for expressway-based next-generation intelligent charging infrastructure and physical AI technology."

The signing ceremony was attended by Jung Ho-keun, executive vice president and head of Hyundai Motor Group's Future Strategy Division, and Cho Seong-min, head of the Korea Expressway Corporation's Road and Traffic Research Institute, among others.

The two sides agreed to use the national expressway network as a real-world testing environment rather than a laboratory or a closed test track. The aim is to verify the performance and commercial viability of new technologies under actual road conditions, with live traffic and real users.

Highway rest stops will serve as the primary testbeds for next-generation charging technology. As the number of electric vehicles grows, the need for technology that improves charging convenience and operational efficiency on long-distance routes — not just the number of charging stations — is increasing.

Physical AI will be applied to road maintenance. The technology combines AI with robots and other devices to carry out tasks in real-world environments. Hyundai Motor Group and the Korea Expressway Corporation plan to research how physical AI can improve the efficiency of road maintenance operations and enhance on-site safety.

Startups backed or identified by ZER01NE, Hyundai Motor Group's open-innovation platform, will also take part. The partners plan to support these companies in testing their technologies and accumulating data on live expressway sites, with the goal of validating a path toward full commercial deployment.

ZER01NE is an open-innovation platform Hyundai Motor Group launched in 2018 to discover, invest in and collaborate with startups.

The two organizations also agreed to jointly develop future road technologies by combining Hyundai Motor Group's mobility business experience with the Korea Expressway Corporation's road research capabilities.

For Hyundai Motor Group, a key benefit of the partnership is the ability to simultaneously validate both charging technology and physical AI across a nationwide outdoor infrastructure network. Road environments — with their many variables such as weather and traffic volume — offer particularly valuable conditions for confirming performance and safety before commercial rollout.

"Robotics and mobility technologies are only truly complete after being validated in real-world settings," Jung said. "The Korea Expressway Corporation's national highway infrastructure is the ideal stage for large-scale pilot programs — not only for Hyundai Motor Group's charging technology, but also for the physical AI solutions developed by ZER01NE-backed startups."


kwater@heraldcorp.com