Hyundai Motor Group will launch South Korea's first pilot parking service using autonomous parking robots at an apartment complex.
The group said on Aug. 10 that a consortium comprising Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Wia, and Hyundai Engineering & Construction will conduct the pilot project at Hillstate The Wave City in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province.
The project has been approved under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Smart City Regulatory Sandbox program. Hyundai Motor Group plans to use the trial to comprehensively assess whether robot technology can address parking shortages, congestion, and safety risks in dense urban apartment complexes.
The pilot will take place in a 53-space section of the complex's first basement parking level, using two sets of Hyundai Wia parking robots.
Developed by Hyundai Wia, each parking robot consists of a pair of flat units measuring just 110 mm in height. The units slide underneath a vehicle, lift its wheels, and move it to a designated space.
Equipped with LiDAR sensors, the robots can precisely identify wheel positions. They can travel at speeds of up to 1.2 meters per second and carry SUVs weighing up to 3.4 tons.
Drivers park their vehicles in a designated drop-off and pick-up area, then use a kiosk or an in-home smart wall panel to request parking or vehicle retrieval. The robots then automatically move the vehicle to an available space.
The system can also connect with apartment wall panels and elevator-call functions, allowing a vehicle to be retrieved in advance to coincide with the resident's arrival at the parking area.
Hyundai Motor Group expects the system to reduce the time spent searching for empty spaces and increase parking capacity by at least 20% and as much as 50% within the same floor area.
Hyundai Wia has developed its Smart Parking Control System 2.0, capable of simultaneously controlling 50 robot sets. The company plans to develop a system capable of managing parking facilities with around 4,000 spaces using more than 100 robot sets.
Drawing on its manufacturing expertise and data gathered from the pilot, Hyundai Wia plans to expand the technology into residential developments, including future redevelopment projects in Seoul's Apgujeong district.
“We will comprehensively verify the operational stability, efficiency, and user convenience of parking robots in a real-world residential environment,” a Hyundai Motor Group official said. “The goal is to establish a standard model that can be deployed across a wide range of urban spaces in South Korea and overseas.”
Meanwhile, Hyundai Wia will host a parking-solutions customer event at its Uiwang Research Center on Aug. 19 and 20, featuring technology demonstrations for major construction companies.
