Post COVID-19: 국토부 "물류배송•인프라 혁신" 7년간 1,461억 원 생활물류 첨단기술에 투자<br /><br />Shipping never stops in South Korea .<br />It's arguably the delivery capital of the world overnight packages and early-bird groceries arrive before breakfast... and midnight snacks are ordered from all-night takeaways.<br />But amid the COVID-19 pandemic, where the use of contactless payments and services has been increasing exponentially,... Korea plans to turn the trend into a massive industry.<br />Oh Soo-young,... with the third part of our special series on post-COVID19 industries.<br />A self-driving vehicle comes to your office block with the meal you ordered,... still hot and ready to eat.<br />Delivery robots are yet to be approved by the government,... but they're being tested under a regulatory sandbox in western Seoul.<br />"We have been developing self-driving vehicles or robots which can be adapted to all purposes, shapes and sizes, as there's growing demand but not enough labour in the smart logistics and infrastructure market."<br />As part of its New Deal strategy for the post-coronavirus economy,... the government is aiming to grow the smart logistics sector,... introducing intelligent robots and driverless technology running on the country's super-fast 5G network.<br />The land ministry plans to inject some 122 million U.S. dollars into the sector between next year and 2027,... to develop delivery and logistics technology for everyday use.<br />This includes short-distance delivery bots and smart storage cabins,... as well as a massive smart logistics network.<br />Taking advantage of cutting-edge technologies such as the Internet of Things, blockchain and robotics, the logistics infrastructure is expected to make deliveries faster and more efficient and also reduce greenhouse gas emissions.<br />Traditional shippers like Hyundai Heavy Industries are already jumping into the game, joining hands with IT firm KT.<br />They are developing and testing self-driving forklifts with AI voice recognition functions as well as smart logistics management and security solutions running on 5G.<br />"To gain competitiveness and to gain credit in the global community is very improtant. in this way Korea have to make a good example. How to combine smart technology with the logistic and then this might be a good example to be the first mover in terms of smart logistics.<br />But to stay ahead in the game,... the government needs to ease regulations that restrict the development of new technologies. It should also increase R&D support for small developers to help finance the long process of testing and commercializing innovations.<br />Oh Soo-young, Arirang News.<br />
