The Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) and the city government of Gangneung, Gangwon-do Province, on June 13 announced that they will create a system of collecting and providing real-time data on traffic signals throughout the city. (KNPA)

By Lee Jihae

Drivers in Gangneung, Gangwon-do Province, from October can receive real-time information on traffic signals throughout the city using navigation systems, part of the country's gradual expansion of the collection and provision of such data.

The Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) on June 13 said it signed a business deal with the Gangneung City Government on a project to provide real-time information on traffic signals.

Both sides will thus set up a real-time system of collecting and providing traffic signal data throughout the city. Slated for completion in October, the apparatus will allow drivers to access real-time traffic information anywhere within Gangneung.

The system sends such data in real time from on-site signal controllers to the KNPA's urban traffic information center to provide the collected information to external parties for uses like route guidance and vehicles.

After the system is applied, a driver through an app can check when a traffic signal will change. The introduction of cooperative driving using driving data will also back stable self-driving by autonomous vehicles and outdoor mobile robots.

Trial runs of the system are being done in sections of provincial areas such as Daegu, Busan, Daejeon, Jeju Island, Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do Province, Uiwang, Gyeonggi-do Province, and Wonju, Gangwon-do. Gangnueng is the first city to adopt the system throughout its jurisdiction.

"Digitized traffic signal data is a key element of future means of transportation such as self-driving cars," said Kim Hak Kwan, director-general of the KNPA's Community Safety and Traffic Bureau. "We will continue preparation to entrench safe future transportation in daily life."

jihlee08@korea.kr