Do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light, though wise men at their end know dark is right, because their words had forked no lightning they, do not go gentle into that good night.
Hyundai Wia to test parking robots in residential area of Seoul
Hyundai Wia’s parking robots in action at a Hyundai Motor manufacturing plant / Courtesy of Hyundai Wia
By Jhoo Dong-chan
Hyundai Wia, the auto parts and machinery affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, said Monday it will begin testing autonomous parking robots in a residential apartment complex for the first time in Korea. Formed as part of a consortium with Hyundai Motor and Hyundai Engineering & Construction, the trial will run at the Hillstate The Wave City complex in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, under a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport regulatory sandbox initiative.
The company will deploy two sets of robots across 53 parking spaces to evaluate operational stability, space efficiency, and resident convenience. Operating in pairs, the 110-millimeter-thin robots slide beneath vehicles, lift their wheels and transport them autonomously at speeds up to 1.2 meters per second. Equipped with LiDAR sensors, they can handle SUVs weighing up to 3.4 tons.
When a resident leaves a vehicle in a drop-off zone, the robots automatically move it to an open space; upon request, they return the car to the pickup area. The system integrates with wall-mounted smart home pads, allowing residents to summon their vehicle and the elevator simultaneously.
Because drivers no longer need room to open doors or maneuver, Hyundai Wia estimates the technology can increase parking capacity by 20 to 50 percent compared to conventional garages, enabling narrower spacing alongside double- and triple-parking configurations. Managing these operations is the company's proprietary "smart parking control system," which currently directs up to 50 robot sets simultaneously, with a 100-set version under development capable of overseeing roughly 4,000 spaces on a single level.
Hyundai Wia previously deployed its parking robots to manufacturing facilities — including Hyundai Motor Group's Singapore innovation center (HMGICS), plants in Alabama, Georgia, Ulsan and Gwangju — as well as office spaces like Factorial Seongsu in Seoul. The firm plans to leverage data from these sites to refine the technology for residential environments.
Next, Hyundai Wia plans to expand the service to redeveloped apartment complexes in the Apgujeong neighborhood of southern Seoul (Zones 2, 3 and 5). Robots in Zone 3 will feature an emergency response capability: if a parking garage fire-detection system triggers, the robots will autonomously evacuate nearby vehicles to mitigate electric vehicle fire risks.
Looking ahead, a Hyundai Wia official said the company intends to bring the service to transit hubs, commercial centers, and public facilities. It will also hold a customer event on Aug. 19–20 at its Uiwang Research Center to present technical and architectural requirements to construction firm.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.