Seoul’s robotaxi race heats up as Hyundai, Kakao and taxi firms compete for rights

Seoul is turning into the main battleground for South Korea’s growing robotaxi industry, as major companies including Hyundai Motor, Kakao Mobility and Socar compete for the right to operate self driving taxis in the capital city.

At stake is a two year mandate to run Seoul’s robotaxi platform, a prize that could give the winning company or group a strong head start as South Korea’s autonomous vehicle market develops. Several groups are competing for this opportunity, including newer players such as Apex Mobility and Tmoney Mobility, alongside the Seoul Taxi Transport Business Association, which represents the city’s traditional taxi operators.

In an interesting shift, South Korea’s struggling corporate taxi industry, long under financial pressure, is now embracing autonomous driving technology rather than resisting it. Traditional taxi fleet operators are betting that joining the emerging robotaxi ecosystem, rather than competing against it, offers a better path forward for their business. Some are already partnering with transport platform Tmoney to explore this shift.

Kakao Mobility is already ahead in some respects. A robotaxi it operates together with a company called SWM has been approved to run late-night services on Seoul’s streets, giving it early real-world experience in the city, even as the wider competition for the official two year mandate continues among rivals.

Hyundai Motor, meanwhile, is working through its self driving joint venture Motional, which runs IONIQ 5-based self driving cars on public roads. Motional, a partnership between Hyundai and technology firm Aptiv, is separately reported to be planning robotaxi deployments in Las Vegas in the United States later in 2026, showing that Hyundai’s robotaxi ambitions extend well beyond South Korea.

As competition heats up in Seoul, the outcome could shape which companies lead South Korea’s self driving taxi market in its early years, with implications for how quickly robotaxis become a common and trusted sight on the country’s streets.