KISETP and The Ministry of Science and ICT held the open discussion on technical impact assessment at 2 p.m. on November 19 (Friday) to share and communicate with experts and civic panels. The event was held online to respond to COVID-19, and was broadcast live on YouTube and NAVER TV channels of the Ministry of Science and ICT.

▲ Seonhak Jo, director general of the Ministry of Science and ICT

“We hope that it will be an opportunity to examine the both sides of new technologies through an impact assessment on ‘level 4 or higher self-driving’, a key technology in the future automobile industry, such as enhancing the benefits of the transportation for the elderly and disabilities and solving traffic problems,” said Seonhak Jo, director general of the Ministry of Science and ICT, and added “Through the process of collecting various opinions and active discussion from today's debate, it is expected that measures will be made to minimize the negative impact of new technologies and maximize the positive impacts.”

▲ Sang-seon Kim, president of KISETP

Sang-seon Kim, president of KISTEP, said in his opening speech, "As new technologies are rapidly emerging, it is time to preemptively prepare for the positive and negative effects of new technologies," adding, "I hope that today's debate will draw good opinions on what Korea should focus on in the field of self-driving technology."

Starting with the presentation of Soon-cheon Byun, director of KISTEP Policy Planning Division, the debate consisted of 'Level 4 or higher Self-driving’ of Gumin Jung (professor at Kookmin University) and ‘2021 technical Impact assessment (proposal)’ of Jae-shin Lee (professor of Chung-Ang University (Technology Impact Assessment Committee)), followed by public interview and civic panel discussion.

▲ Soon-cheon Byun, director of KISTEP Policy Planning Division

In the first presentation, Soon-cheon Byun, director of KISTEP Policy Planning Division, presented the background and purpose of the technology impact assessment, implementation system and current status, and future plans under the theme of ‘Introduction and Promotion Status of Technology Impact Assessment’. Director Byun, said, "The results of the 2021 technology impact assessment will be distributed around January 2022 after collecting opinions through an open debate today, evaluating them around December, and reporting the results to the Science and Technology Advisory Council."

▲ Gumin Jung, professor at Kookmin University

The second presentation was presented by Gumin Jung, professor at Kookmin University on ‘Level 4 or higher Self-driving, evolutionary direction and implications’, consisting of overview of self-driving; efforts for levels 3, 4 and 5; changes in self-driving and business models; warm technology, mobility; implications. Professor Jung suggested, "In the future, IT technology in vehicles will become more important, with users freed from driving and cars expanding into living spaces due to the development of self-driving technology."

▲ Jae-shin Lee, professor at Chung-Ang University (Chairman of the Technology Impact Assessment Committee)

The following presentation was presented by Jae-shin Lee, chairman of the Technology Impact Assessment Committee (professor at Chung-Ang University), on ‘the 2021 Technology Impact Assessment Results (proposal)’, and presented key evaluation topics in seven areas and policy suggestions accordingly. Chairman Lee said, "With the development of self-driving technology, we need to closely examine both negative effects such as the possibility of legal disputes in traffic accidents and positive effects such as fostering new industries."

▲ Panel discussion

In the panel discussion, Sun-mi Kang (professor at Chung-Ang University), Kyung-ae Ahn (director at Digital Times), Jae-kwan Lee (director at Korea Automobile Research Institute), Jeasung Lee (representative from Civil Forum), Gu-min Jung (professor at Kookmin University), Jung-dan Choi (director at ETRI), Jihyung Han (CEO at Automus a2z), and Sung-ik Hwang (partner lawyer at Sejong law firm) freely participated with the lead of Jae-shin Lee, professor at Chung-Ang University.