Daegu’s Autonomous Taxi Revolution: What You Need to Know About the Future of Mobility in 2026

Daegu’s taxi industry is ramping up efforts to introduce self-driving taxis.

On the 30th, the Daegu City Taxi Transport Business Association (corporate taxi association) said the Nationwide Taxi Transport Business Association Federation (Taxi Federation) recently launched a practical coexistence working group to build an industrial ecosystem for converting corporate taxis to autonomous driving. The effort includes participation from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, academic institutions, and the automotive, insurance and mobility sectors.

Corporate taxi operators have begun outlining cooperative strategies and response plans for the autonomous-vehicle market, and individual taxi associations are starting to join the shift.

Last June the Taxi Federation signed an MOU with Kakao Mobility aimed at guiding the taxi industry’s transition, and it has been working on legal and regulatory reforms needed for self-driving taxis.

Discussions on introducing self-driving taxis are spreading nationwide. At the end of last year, the Seoul Metropolitan Council hosted a forum titled “Exploring coexistence measures for Seoul taxis in the era of self-driving taxis,” underscoring the need for policy responses. In January, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced plans to use the entire city of Gwangju as an autonomous-vehicle testbed.

Daegu was selected this year for the ministry’s Autonomous Vehicle Pilot Operation Zone Service Support Project and is moving forward with a plan to integrate autonomous vehicles into logistics operations.

If the pilot zone is designated around June, Daegu will begin pilot runs of autonomous logistics vehicles and aims to expand autonomous driving into passenger transport, including taxis, next year.