South Korea enacts performance certification for Level 4 self-driving vehicles

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport enacted on 13 November 2026 a performance-certification and conformity-approval regime for Level 4 autonomous vehicles, allowing them to be sold between companies and put into operation before full safety standards are in place. The regulation, 「자율주행자동차 성능인증 및 적합성 승인 등에 관한 규정」, was published as Notice No. 2026-627 in the Official Gazette (관보) No. 21361, p. 200. It also establishes periodic and ad hoc inspections for every vehicle granted conformity approval.

The instrument is signed by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Kim Youn-deok, and it executes a delegation contained in the amendment to the Act on Promotion and Support of the Commercialization of Autonomous Vehicles (Act No. 20391), promulgated on 19 March 2024 and in force since 20 March 2025. That amendment created the performance-certification system precisely so that Level 4 vehicles could circulate freely and change hands between companies before Korean or foreign safety standards are settled. The notice states that no separate budget measure is required and that no inter-agency consultation was necessary.

Five blocks of technical rules

The enacted text is organised into general standards, hardware requirements, testable performance criteria, approval procedure and post-approval inspection, with articles and annexes assigned to each:

• General standards for applicants and vehicles: who may apply, which types of autonomous vehicle qualify, permitted manufacturing methods and the documents to be submitted (Articles 4 to 7, Annexes 1 and 2).
• Structural and device requirements the vehicle must meet to be certified (Articles 8 to 19, Annexes 3 and 4).
• Detailed performance standards and test methods (Articles 20 to 36, Annexes 5 and 6).
• Requirements for the applicant and the vehicle, plus the application procedure, for conformity approval (Articles 37 to 44).
• Periodic inspection and temporary inspection of conformity-approved vehicles (Articles 45 to 52, Annex 7).

Inspections follow certification

The final block turns certification into a continuing obligation rather than a one-off permit: vehicles that obtain conformity approval become subject to scheduled periodic inspections and to temporary inspections, with a dedicated annex setting out the inspection regime. Together with the conformity-approval chapter, this gives the ministry a means of monitoring vehicles in service even though no completed safety standard yet governs them.

A wider opening of the market

The certification regime lands alongside other steps in the same policy track. On 22 September 2026 the amended act was promulgated as Act No. 21967, effective 23 December 2026, transferring authority to designate pilot driving zones from the minister to city and provincial governors and easing the conditions for ministerial designation; a legislative notice on the enforcement decree closed for comment on 7 December 2026. On 13 October 2026, Notice No. 2026-550 revised two pilot zones, including a 21.9 km network in the Naepo New Town in South Chungcheong for free passenger service and a 12.95 km route in the Chungbuk Innovation City, where paid passenger transport is capped at 10 vehicles. A separate administrative notice published on 5 November 2026 (Notice No. 2026-1386) proposes amendments to the general autonomous-vehicle regulation, with comments due 25 November 2026.

The full text is available through the ministry’s website, and enquiries are directed to its Autonomous Driving Policy Division on 044-201-3849.

For developers, fleet operators and insurers, the notice converts a political promise into an operating licence: a vehicle can now be certified, approved, sold and inspected under a published rulebook, and the inspection record becomes the document trail that insurers and buyers will rely on while formal safety standards are still being written.

Source: 관보 (Official Gazette of the Republic of Korea), No. 21361, 13 November 2026, p. 200 (official reference: 국토교통부고시 제2026-627호).