---
title: "South Korea Building an Entire Town for Testing Self-Driving Cars"
description: "The K-City complex will give companies from Hyundai to Samsung a new, controlled location to develop autonomous vehicles."
date: "2017-05-09"
modified: "2019-05-27"
authors:
  - name: "Will Sabel Courtney"
    job_title: "Contributor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/will-sabel-courtney"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/tech/10106/south-korea-building-an-entire-town-for-testing-self-driving-cars"
categories:
  - "Car Tech"
  - "News"
  - "Self-Driving Tech"
tags:
  - "autonomous vehicles"
  - "Samsung"
  - "self-driving cars"
  - "South Korea"
---

# South Korea Building an Entire Town for Testing Self-Driving Cars

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/05/south-korea-self-driving-car-genesis.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

South Korea is [building](<https://epconfranchising.com/epcon-homebuilding-franchise/why-become-an-epcon-franchise-builder/>) an entire town as a place to test self-driving cars in a manner that's more controlled than releasing them into the wild while still giving them the chance to be tested in a wide variety of environments.

The complex, described as "K-City," will be the world's largest testing facility for autonomous cars, [according to *Business Korea*](<https://www.businesskorea.co.kr/english/news/sciencetech/18018-k-city-world%E2%80%99s-largest-test-bed-self-driving-cars-be-opened-korea>). Both local [automakers such as Hyundai and Kia](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/9069/hyundai-kia-recall-1-5-million-vehicles-over-engine-failure>) and [Korean technology companies like Samsung](<https://www.thedrive.com/tech/9828/samsung-can-now-test-self-driving-cars-on-south-korean-streets>) are expected to congregate around the complex, which reportedly cost on the scale of $10 million to build.

Companies will not need to seek autonomous vehicle testing permits from [the South Korean government](<https://www.twz.com/3762/south-koreas-new-sub-could-be-capable-of-firing-ballistic-missiles>) in order to test their self-driving cars, *Business Korea* reports. The nation began granting such permits late last year, [according to the Associated Press](<https://apnews.com/9f73ddff592342b885fec0c240d2abe5/south-korea-test-self-driving-car-real-traffic>).

Admittedly, breathless reports describing the South Korean testing facility as a "city" are something of an exaggeration. The complex will be around 360,000 square meters, which works out to roughly 0.14 square miles—slightly smaller than Vatican City. But that will still reportedly be enough space for K-City to offer numerous environments for autonomous testing, including highways, parking areas, and mass transit zones.

The highway portions of the facility are expected to open to testing first, in October of this year; the rest of K-City is predicted to open by the middle of 2018.

The South Korean test site is similar to the [University of Michigan's Mcity complex in Ann Arbor](<https://energy.umich.edu/research/partner-programs/mcity>), where [Ford has begun testing its own self-driving vehicle](<https://www.thedrive.com/tech/7730/ford-engineers-are-falling-asleep-while-monitoring-self-driving-cars>)s. But at nearly three times the size of its U.S. equivalent, K-City will offer far more room for the country's tech and car companies to futz around with the future of transportation.

## Author
Will is the former managing editor of *RIDES Magazine* and the former online editor for *0-60 Magazine*. He has worked for *Time Out New York* and *Rolling Stone*, and was the creator of *College Cars Online*, the first automotive blog specifically targeted at college students and young professionals.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/willsabelcourtney>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/willscourtney>)