Kakao Mobility, LG Innotek Partner on Autonomous Driving Tech

Partnership Overview

South Korea's Kakao Mobility signed a memorandum of understanding with LG Innotek on May 20 to develop autonomous driving solutions. The partnership combines Kakao's vehicle data collection network with LG Innotek's sensing hardware capabilities. LG Innotek will develop a sensing system using cameras, radar, and lidar technology. Kakao Mobility will leverage this setup to gather real-world driving data for its AI data pipeline and end-to-end driving models. The agreement extends Kakao Mobility's KM Autonomous Driving Alliance into hardware development. Kakao Mobility has collaborated with several South Korean autonomous driving companies since 2021.

Strategic Objectives

Kakao Mobility aims to build Level 4 autonomous driving systems internally, bringing the full stack of self-driving technology in-house. The company established a plan in April 2026 to build one safety platform and train machine learning models using road data, simulation, and validation methods.

LG Innotek targets growth in mobility sensing solutions, with a goal to reach 2 trillion won (US$1.5 billion) in revenue by 2030. Kakao Mobility's driving data will help LG Innotek refine sensing modules used in autonomous driving systems.

Broader Industry Context

The partnership reflects a wider trend of collaboration between hardware manufacturers and software companies in autonomous vehicle development. LG Innotek is pursuing two parallel paths: the Kakao Mobility partnership focused on road data collection, and a separate agreement with Applied Intuition, a US autonomous vehicle software company, covering sensor integration and validation through Applied Intuition's autonomous driving software platform and simulation environment.

Both companies frame this work as part of the broader physical AI movement—AI systems designed to operate machines in real-world environments such as robots and drones. The hardware partnership also supports Kakao Mobility's objective to establish an open autonomous driving ecosystem in South Korea and strengthen local competitiveness amid growing global competition.