The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on April 16 announced its approval of the country's first permit for autonomous vehicles used in commercial freight transportation. (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport)

By Aisylu Akhmetzianova

Self-driving trucks from June will make their debut on the nation's highways.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on April 16 announced the issuance of its first license to operate a self-driving vehicle for commercial freight transportation to RideFlux after the latter passed the evaluation.

From June, RideFlux will start operating such trucks on a 112-km stretch of highway connecting a logistics complex in southeastern Seoul to Lotte Express Jincheon Mega Hub Terminal. The vehicles will run at a speed of 90 kph.

By year's end, autonomous truck transportation will be expanded to other regions like Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do Province; Gangneung, Gangwon-do Province, and Daegu.

For safety reasons, a test driver will sit in the driver's seat in pilot operations before switching to the passenger seat next year.

The ministry said, "We will aggressively back domestic autonomous driving technology so that it gains competitiveness in freight as well as passenger transportation."

aisylu@korea.kr