KOTI - Korea Transport institute

In the sector of technology, the gap between law and policy directly causes social and economical losses. The government can prevent existing regulations from blocking the introduction of new technology by quickly responding to technological developments and, furthermore, has a duty to support private companies to achieve technological developments by providing prompt and rational revision of the legal system. The United States and the European Union have been actively implementing a regulatory reform to introduce autonomous vehicles and it is absolutely necessary for the Korean government to make all efforts to implement an active regulatory reform for the global competitiveness of autonomous vehicles since it is forecasted that each country's legal system significantly affects on deciding which country will lead the just emerging market of autonomous vehicles in the world.
In addition, this study has reviewed the current status and problems of technology development on wireless charging on electric vehicles. It has analyzed the level of regulations from the perspective of legal system by a commercialization case of wireless charging on electric buses which are operating in Gumi City in Korea and has reviewed the level of technology on wireless charging in foreign countries. After that, it has provided the revision proposals of the legal system for developing the industry of wireless charging and electric vehicles from the perspective of industry policy. Korea has reached a high level of technology development on wireless charging and is positioned within the top five countries of the technology since KAIST and other research institutions have developed MRV (Modular Robotic Vehicle) and OLEV(On-Line Electric Vehicle).
However, due to the small size of Korean vehicle market and the high risk of technology development, private companies in Korea do not have enough incentives to invest into the development of new technology for leading the global market of wireless charging with taking all business risks. The Korean companies which might be successful in developing the technology of wireless charging have a high possibility of failure at the stage of commercialization. Moreover, Korea is not leading the industry of electric vehicles since the Hyundai Motor, a Korean car maker, has heavily researched on a hydrogen vehicle rather than electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles. From the perspective of industry policy, the Korean government should focus on supporting the technology development of wireless charging on electric vehicles since it is an emerging technology compared with a matured plug-in hybrid one which is leading by Japanese car makers. It is necessary to revise related laws on wireless charging system for electric vehicles as public policy is usually arranged by planning a budget and an incentive system according to laws.
As we can see the cases of autonomous vehicles and wireless charging technology, the difficulty of new technology commercialization is a chronic problem which is not limited to the transport sector but the whole sectors. This study has emphasized the improvement of regulations to support the commercialization of new technology which applies to all transport new technologies rather than specific technologies for creative economy and job creation. In particular, this study has deducted the problems of technology commercialization regulations which are shown from Technology Transfer and Commercialization Promotion Act, Presidential Operation Directive on R&D Projects of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Ministerial Administration Guideline on R&D Projects of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. After that, it has proposed a revision of existing regulations on technology commercialization. As, due to the limit of technology commercialization, the transport sector has not created jobs and vitalized transport industries, this study has proposed four measures to promote technology commercialization. The first one is to revise the Technology Transfer and Commercialization Promotion Act which requires the government, R&D organizations, and private participants to make regulatory revisions for technology commercialization before the completion of public R&D process. The second one is to expand the stages of public R&D projects to those of practical use and technical commercialization by revising the regulations of Presidential Directive on the Operation of R&D Projects in Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Ministerial Guideline on the administration of R&D Projects in Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The third one is to construct and operate a platform center for transport technological commercialization by supporting the revision of Technology Transfer and Commercialization Promotion Act, Presidential Directive on the Operation R&D Projects in Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Ministerial Guideline on the Administration of R&D Projects in Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The final one is to include R&D tasks into the official tasks of public servants in Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport by revising the Presidential Directive on the Organization of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport