[Exclusive] Kakao's Monopoly Ends… Hyundai Motor and T-Money Mobility Also Win Seoul Robo-Taxi Operating Rights

The two-year monopoly of Kakao Mobility, which had exclusively operated the Seoul autonomous taxi call service, has ended. With Hyundai Motor and T-Money Mobility securing operating rights, the Seoul robo-taxi platform will shift to a three-company competitive structure.

According to a comprehensive report by MoneyToday on the 7th, Seoul selected three operators—Kakao Mobility, Hyundai Motor, and T-Money Mobility—in its public recruitment for 'Private Operators of Autonomous Vehicle Transport Platforms' and recently notified each company individually. Seoul closed applications on the 24th of last month and held an evaluation committee meeting on the 27th. The three companies plan to sign agreements with Seoul soon and link their respective platforms. Full-scale service is expected to begin by the end of this year.

Selected operators will provide services including reservation, call, dispatch, and payment for autonomous vehicles operating in Seoul via their own apps for two years from the date of agreement signing, and will share operation data with Seoul. In the 2024 recruitment, only Kakao Mobility was selected, and KakaoT operated exclusively. Starting this recruitment, Seoul changed its method to allow selection of multiple operators if they score 85 points or higher in evaluation.

Hyundai Motor entered for the first time after a second attempt. This marks the first case where a vehicle manufacturer directly operates the Seoul robo-taxi platform. It is expected that 'Shuttle,' an AI demand-responsive dispatch platform operated across 82 regions nationwide, will be deployed.

This means competition has begun where three apps will share calls for the same autonomous vehicles. Meanwhile, Soco, which established Apex Mobility—a joint venture with Krafton worth 150 billion won—in May last month, and global ride-hailing company Uber were eliminated. Since last month, Seoul has increased the number of 'Gangnam Late-Night Autonomous Taxis' from seven to 19 vehicles. The service area is also planned to be expanded gradually.