SWM Launches Paid Nighttime Autonomous Taxi Service in Gangnam: What You Need to Know

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[Asia Times = Reporter Shin Jin-yeol] SWM said it will begin charging for its late-night Gangnam autonomous taxi service in April and expand its operating area.

After Seoul designated SWM as a passenger transport operator for autonomous vehicles in the second half of 2024, the company has run a late-night robo-taxi pilot across Gangnam for about 18 months. The service has helped fill overnight transit gaps, and SWM says moving to a paid model will help establish a commercial foundation for robo-taxis in South Korea.

SWM will first increase its fleet from three to five vehicles as it begins commercialization. Starting next month, operating hours will shift one hour earlier to 10:00 p.m.–5:00 a.m., and a fixed per-ride fare by time slot will be introduced to limit additional distance- or time-based charges.

The operating area will also expand from part of Gangnam District (17.9㎢, about 6.91 sq mi) to the entire Gangnam autonomous vehicle pilot zone (20.4㎢, about 7.88 sq mi).

SWM plans to scale the operation this year to include daytime service, grow the fleet to more than 10 vehicles, and proceed in stages with the daytime launch and further geographic expansion.

According to SWM, the service has logged 7,754 rides to date and has not experienced a single accident during operations.

SWM is also continuing to advance its technology. The company has conducted large-scale data training centered on a data-driven, end-to-end AI autonomous driving stack, improving alignment between real-road performance and simulation.

Through partnerships with incumbent taxi operators, including the Seoul Taxi Transport Business Association, SWM is developing a collaborative model that divides responsibilities between tech companies and transport operators to minimize industry friction during rollout.

Building on these achievements, SWM is targeting the global market. Beginning on the 16th local time, the company will unveil its next-generation robo-taxi at Lenovo’s booth during NVIDIA GTC in San Jose. The vehicle will feature SWM’s in-house high-performance vehicle computing platform, the AP-700, and a VLA-based autonomous driving system.

An SWM spokesperson said, “We continue to refine our technology using data accumulated from operating urban autonomous services, and we aim to commercialize fully driverless Level 4 robo-taxi services in South Korea.”