SOCAR is accelerating its push to secure Autonomous Driving data, using the introduction of Tesla as a springboard. The plan is to advance the driving data accumulated in its existing car-sharing business to get a head start in the Autonomous Driving market.
On the 28th, industry sources said SOCAR recently began delivering Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles equipped with Full Self-Driving Supervised (FSD Supervised). The feature performs driving actions such as route navigation, steering, lane changes, and parking under active driver supervision.
These vehicles are available only through the long-term lending service "SOCAR Subscription." The fee, including insurance, is 3.99 million won for one month and 1.49 million won for one week. Considering that the vehicle price is about 150 million won including the FSD feature (about 9 million won), paying the subscription fee for about three years would roughly equal the price of one car. However, there is a contracted mileage, allowing up to 400 km per week and 1,500 km per month. If exceeded, an additional per-kilometer fee applies.
Considering that the SOCAR Subscription expense for the Sonata and K5 is 750,000 won per month and the Grandeur Hybrid is around 1.01 million won, Tesla is expensive. Even so, about 2,000 people rushed to the preorders held in the Seoul metropolitan area in March. A SOCAR official said, "There was even a case where a customer living in Mokpo, South Jeolla, came all the way to Seoul to receive the vehicle."
In January, Tesla announced it would halt production of the Model S and Model X. In Korea as well, new orders were suspended at the end of last month. To experience FSD Supervised, the only options are to buy the supply-constrained Cybertruck or use the SOCAR Subscription service. The industry views the surge in demand as driven by this scarcity coupled with interest in FSD.
SOCAR said the Tesla introduction is a symbolic move to signal the direction of its Autonomous Driving technology, not just an expansion of its lineup. Just as Tesla has accumulated driving data through cameras mounted on its vehicles, SOCAR said it is building a similar structure for Autonomous Driving data collection.
SOCAR has already installed telematics terminals that provide services such as mobile communication and satellite navigation in more than 25,000 vehicles operating nationwide. Through this, it collects more than 100 driving data points in real time, including speed, steering, braking, and acceleration, and the data is anonymized for analysis. These vehicles travel about 1.1 million km per day, 10 times Korea's total road length of 110,000 km.
In the process, it is securing 17.4 million hours of driving video annually and more than 220,000 accident data points. A SOCAR official said, "We can secure a large volume of data on responses to unexpected situations (edge cases), which are a core challenge for Autonomous Driving AI and difficult to reproduce through simulation."
Starting this year, SOCAR launched the Future Mobility Task Force (TF), a department reporting directly to the CEO that handles Autonomous Driving, to seize the market early. While maintaining the profitability and operational capabilities of its existing car-sharing business, it aims to accumulate Autonomous Driving-related data and fully roll out new businesses.
To further advance Autonomous Driving technology, the company also plans to expand to about 1,000 vehicles simultaneously equipped with LiDAR sensors, cameras, GPS, and IMU. SOCAR said, "Based on structural competitiveness, we will gradually implement domestic Autonomous Driving mobility services through technology development and partnerships."