Han Ji-hyeong, CEO of A2Z, is a hands-on engineer who spent more than a decade at Hyundai Motor Co. working on autonomous driving technology. He was an early member of Hyundai’s self-driving effort, beginning research before the technology was widely commercialized, and worked on the autonomous Nexo that President Moon Jae-in rode during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
At the time, Hyundai developed autonomous driving through partnerships with outside companies. Han said he believed a fully driverless system with “zero defects” required more independent development. “As I thought about the direction and speed of development, I decided to start a company with colleagues who shared the same view,” he said. He added that A2Z focused on a B2B and B2G market for low-speed, special-purpose vehicles in cities to commercialize existing technology quickly.
“Shuttles or special-purpose vehicles that run at about 50 to 60 kilometers per hour are less technically demanding than autonomous passenger cars and can be commercialized in a short time, and that expectation proved right,” he said.
A2Z drew global attention in 2024 when it ranked 11th in a “comprehensive assessment of autonomous driving companies’ technology” by market research firm Guidehouse Insights, the only South Korean company on the list. The ranking included Waymo, Baidu, Mobileye of Israel and Nvidia, and A2Z was the only company valued at less than 1 trillion won, according to the article.
The company says it has operated 82 autonomous vehicles, the most in South Korea, and logged about 940,000 kilometers of cumulative driving in urban autonomous operations, also a domestic high. Based on that field experience, it has developed services including urban autonomous shuttles, smart logistics solutions and mobility support for transportation-disadvantaged people.
Its Level 4 autonomous vehicle, ROii, developed in 2024, is expected to enter full commercialization this year after performance certification tests and approvals. In Singapore, A2Z obtained local autonomous driving license M1, the first South Korean company to do so, and through its joint venture A2G (Autonomous to Global) is pursuing orders tied to the local smart city project “COSMO.” It is also exploring entry into markets including the United Arab Emirates and Japan.
A2Z says it is preparing for an era of fully unmanned autonomous driving. Han said fully unmanned vehicles require a different approach from today’s practice of developing software and hardware separately. “Through an integrated platform in which the brain, the body and the infrastructure that moves them are perfectly aligned, we will realize 100% unmanned autonomous driving the fastest and most completely,” he said.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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