The landscape of land management is evolving beyond just roads, railways, and buildings. An era is emerging where AI controls traffic, digital twins manage cities, and autonomous vehicles and robots move alongside people. The competitiveness of land is now determined not by its size, but by how effectively data is utilized.
Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Yoon-deok is spearheading the 'Land and Transport AX (AI Transformation)' initiative, which aims to reshape land and transport policies around AI. The core of this initiative is to implement AI services that citizens can experience through the creation of AI cities, commercialization of autonomous driving, smart construction, digital twins, and the expansion of drones and physical AI.
He envisions transforming the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport from a mere construction and real estate administrative body into a cutting-edge technology department focused on researching and demonstrating future technologies.
The question is clear.
Can South Korea truly create the world's leading smart territory based on AI?
Redesigning Land with AI
The concept that Minister Kim emphasizes the most is 'Land and Transport AX.'
He aims to push for an AI transformation that applies AI beyond digital transformation (DX) to policies, industries, and everyday life.
The Ministry is implementing the 'AX-Sprint' project, which rapidly applies AI technologies in transportation, construction, urban planning, and logistics, spreading corporate AI capabilities into real-world applications and citizens' lives.
This initiative goes beyond merely automating administrative tasks.
It aims to create a new land management system where AI operates cities, controls traffic, and manages facilities.
The focus of land policy is shifting from civil engineering to data.
AI Cities as the Standard for Future Urban Development
Minister Kim is promoting AI cities as a key project in land policy.
The Ministry is advancing the 'AI City Innovation Technology Discovery Project' and the K-AI City Leading Project, spreading smart city models that address urban issues such as traffic, environment, and safety through AI.
In AI cities, traffic signals adjust themselves, energy consumption is optimized, and disaster risks are detected in advance.
Urban areas are no longer spaces managed solely by humans.
AI is evolving into an intelligent platform that learns about the city in real-time and suggests optimal operational strategies.
At the heart of Minister Kim's vision for a smart territory lies the AI city.
Autonomous Driving and Physical AI Transforming Mobility
Cars are no longer just machines for driving.
They are becoming mobility platforms that recognize their surroundings and make decisions autonomously.
The Ministry is expanding autonomous driving services in demonstration cities, including Hwaseong, validating various services such as support for vulnerable road users, road inspections, and street cleaning through AI-based autonomous driving. Minister Kim has expressed his commitment to nurturing autonomous driving and physical AI as core growth engines for land and transport.
AI is not only transforming vehicles.
It is changing the very concept of mobility with delivery robots, parking robots, and urban air mobility (UAM).
The future territory is likely to be a space where people, cars, and robots move together.
Digital Twins for Real-Time Land ManagementDigital twins, which replicate the territory in a virtual space, are another pillar of the AI land revolution.
Minister Kim visited CES 2026 to inspect AI-based safety checks and digital twin technologies, expressing his intention to actively incorporate these into domestic land and transport policies.
Digital twins create a virtual space that mirrors the city.
AI can predict traffic flow, simulate disasters such as flooding and landslides, and identify risks in aging infrastructure.
This enables proactive land management that prevents accidents rather than merely responding to them after they occur.
Smart Construction Transforming the Construction Industry
The construction industry is also embracing AI.
Minister Kim identifies smart construction, construction robots, BIM, and AI-based safety management as core technologies for the future construction industry. At the recent National Land and Transport Technology Fair, smart construction, AI cities, and autonomous driving were highlighted as key exhibition areas.
Construction sites are likely to evolve from spaces reliant on human experience to environments where AI analyzes risks and robots perform tasks.
AI will play a role in reducing construction time, enhancing quality, and preventing industrial accidents.
The AI innovation in land and transport is beginning not only in urban areas but also at construction sites.
AI Land as a New Opportunity for Balanced Regional Development
Minister Kim does not view AI as a technology exclusive to the capital region.
The Ministry is working on policies to establish AI-specialized pilot cities in local areas and to enhance existing smart cities into AI-based urban centers. Through AI city models that involve local governments and private enterprises, the aim is to achieve both AI industry growth and urban innovation in regions.
The AI land revolution is also a strategy for balanced regional development.
By connecting transportation, healthcare, logistics, and administration through AI, local areas can enjoy services comparable to those in the capital region.
Reducing the digital divide in land is a key goal of the AI land policy.
Minister Kim's AI policy is not merely a smart city initiative.
It is a national project to transform land into an AI platform.
AI cities, autonomous driving, digital twins, smart construction, and physical AI are all directed toward a single goal.
To create an AI-based territory where citizens can live more safely and conveniently.
The competitiveness of land in the AI era will be determined not by the number of roads built, but by how well data is utilized.
Minister Kim's push for an AI land revolution represents a new challenge to elevate South Korea to the status of the world's leading smart territory.
:Minister Kim Yoon-deok:
After serving as a member of the National Assembly and on the National Assembly's Land and Transport Committee, he was appointed Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Since taking office, he has presented the Land and Transport AX (AI Transformation) as a core policy, actively promoting the establishment of AI cities, commercialization of autonomous driving, smart construction, digital twins, and the expansion of drones and physical AI.
Recently, he inspected AI-based safety management and autonomous driving technologies at CES 2026 and the National Land and Transport Technology Fair, presenting a vision to transform the Ministry into a cutting-edge technology department focused on researching and demonstrating future technologies.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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