"I will transform the Korea Expressway Corporation into a company that integrates AI mobility infrastructure and service platforms," said Yoo Jeong-hoon, the newly appointed president of the Korea Expressway Corporation. For Yoo, highways are no longer just roads for cars.
The plan is to connect power and data across the national highway network while integrating autonomous driving and future mobility. The goal is to redefine the highways, once the main arteries of South Korea's industrial era, into national infrastructure for the AI age.
The history of South Korea's industrialization cannot be discussed without mentioning highways. The opening of the Gyeongbu Expressway in 1970 was not merely an event connecting Seoul and Busan; it facilitated rapid movement of people and goods, uniting the nation into a single economic zone and fostering the growth of industrial complexes and cities along the route.
Now, half a century later, South Korea stands at another turning point. While oil and steel were the key resources of the industrial era, data and power will determine national competitiveness in the AI era. AI data centers require substantial power and a high-speed communication network for rapid data transfer.
Yoo sees a new role for highways in this context. He aims to expand the physical roads that connect the nation into a national infrastructure where power and data flow together in the AI era.
This vision underpins his declaration to transform the Korea Expressway Corporation into an 'AI mobility infrastructure and service integration platform company.'
One of the most notable aspects of Yoo's AI vision is the plan to utilize the national highway network as a power transmission network and a large-capacity data cable network. As the number of data centers, which are critical facilities in the AI era, rapidly increases, securing power and data transmission capabilities has become a national priority. Without sufficient power supply or the ability to quickly transfer large volumes of data, these centers cannot be effectively utilized.
Yoo focuses on the existing linear infrastructure of the highways. He envisions creating a 'super-gap infrastructure' that utilizes the highway network to establish a foundation for power and data movement, contributing to solving the power supply and high-speed communication issues for AI data centers.
This redefines the role of the expressway corporation. While its core mission in the past was to construct and maintain roads and ensure safe travel for vehicles, it may now expand to managing a national platform where vehicles, energy, data, and communication move simultaneously. Highways will become the blood vessels of AI civilization.
Power remains essential even in the AI era. As generative AI rapidly spreads, the nature of AI competition is changing. Becoming an AI powerhouse requires more than just good algorithms and semiconductors. It necessitates the establishment of data centers supported by substantial power and a communication infrastructure for data transfer.
The Korea Expressway Corporation's push to expand renewable energy projects utilizing highway facilities is noteworthy in this context. Various facilities, such as road sites, rest areas, and sound barriers, exist along highways. Yoo plans to utilize these spaces to generate energy and create a win-win model that shares profits with local residents.
The highways are evolving from being energy-consuming infrastructure to becoming energy-producing and transferring infrastructure.
If we view AI data centers, power grids, and data networks from a national infrastructure perspective, the role of the Korea Expressway Corporation could expand significantly.
Autonomous trucks will travel on highways. AI is also transforming vehicles on highways. One of the key projects proposed by Yoo is a pilot program for dedicated lanes for autonomous trucks during nighttime hours. This initiative aims to enhance both the efficiency and safety of logistics by combining autonomous driving technology with highway infrastructure.
Autonomous driving is not merely about creating vehicles without drivers. It requires real-time connections between vehicles, roads, traffic information, and communication networks.
When AI analyzes traffic volume, accident risks, weather, and facility information, and a structure is established for vehicles and roads to exchange information, highways will transform from mere asphalt into a vast digital platform.
Logistics is a field where the effects of AI and autonomous driving can be significantly realized. If the operation of autonomous trucks on highways during nighttime becomes a reality, it could open new approaches to logistics costs, transportation efficiency, driver shortages, and safety issues.
This is why the expressway corporation must evolve from a road management agency to an AI mobility platform company.
Rest areas will also become future mobility platforms. Yoo chose the Yeongdong Expressway's Yeoju Rest Area as his first destination after taking office, which carries symbolic significance.
He envisions transforming rest areas from mere spaces for eating and resting into 'multi-purpose complex spaces' that integrate public transportation transfers, future mobility, community coexistence, culture, and leisure.
In the era of future mobility, the role of rest areas will inevitably change. They can develop into hubs connecting electric vehicle charging, transfers to new transportation modes, and local tourism and commercial facilities.
However, there are issues that need to be addressed before new technologies can be implemented. Yoo pointed out the multi-tiered operational structure that leads to high fees for vendors at rest areas and the management issues involving retiree organizations, emphasizing the need for institutional improvements to restore public trust.
This underscores that AI transformation and management innovation cannot be separate endeavors. If we discuss future technologies while maintaining existing unreasonable structures, it will be difficult to gain public trust.
Safety is ultimately the starting point for AI. The highways are critical national facilities where countless vehicles and people move daily.
If AI can analyze traffic volume, accident risks, weather, and road conditions, and quickly identify anomalies, it can enhance accident prevention and response capabilities. Establishing a safe road environment is crucial for autonomous driving, beyond the technology itself.
Yoo has also announced plans to empower safety patrol personnel with on-site control authority to establish a smart and safe traffic system.
Just two days after taking office, he visited a facility management subsidiary to directly inspect the heating, cooling, ventilation systems, and rest facilities for on-site workers, demonstrating a management direction that prioritizes safety and the workforce.
The integration of advanced AI technology and the safety of those working on-site are not separate issues. The ultimate goal of AI transformation should be to provide safer and more convenient roads for people.
Yoo also highlighted balanced national development as a key role for the Korea Expressway Corporation. To overcome the concentration of power in the Seoul metropolitan area, he aims to strengthen the role of highways connecting the national 'five poles and three special zones' super-regions.
In the AI era, such connections are even more critical. If AI data centers, energy facilities, and advanced industries are concentrated only in the metropolitan area, AI could exacerbate regional disparities.
By establishing power and data infrastructure along the national highway network and connecting regional industrial complexes and logistics networks, new possibilities can emerge. Highways can be utilized as a national network supporting the regional expansion of AI infrastructure.
While highways connected factories and cities during the industrial era, they can now serve to connect data centers, industrial complexes, energy, and logistics in the AI era.
The future envisioned by Yoo Jeong-hoon for the Korea Expressway Corporation ultimately boils down to a 'redefinition of roads.'
It involves transforming roads that once served vehicles into pathways where power and data flow together, transitioning from a public enterprise managing roads to an AI mobility platform company.
From logistics driven by human drivers to logistics supported by AI and autonomous driving.
The highways, once the main arteries of South Korea's industrialization, are being assigned a new mission. Competitiveness in the AI era will not be determined solely by semiconductors and algorithms. It requires a communication network to deliver the power and data that will operate AI, as well as the physical infrastructure to connect data centers and logistics nationwide.
South Korea already has a vast highway network that connects the entire nation. The challenge lies in how to repurpose this asset for the AI era.
The highways that once connected the South Korean economy during the industrial era can evolve into a new national artery that connects power, data, autonomous driving, and logistics in the AI era.
: Yoo Jeong-hoon, President of the Korea Expressway Corporation:
Yoo is an expert in transportation and infrastructure. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in urban engineering from Seoul National University and a Ph.D. in transportation engineering from Purdue University in the United States. After serving as a senior researcher at the Korea Transport Institute, he has been a professor in the Department of Transportation Systems Engineering at Ajou University since 2005 and is currently the president of the Korean Society of Transportation.
He took office as president of the Korea Expressway Corporation in June 2026 and is pushing for a transition into a future platform company that integrates AI mobility infrastructure and services.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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