Cab-sharing apps to get green light within first half

A large Kakao taxi sits in the parking lot of a taxi company in Seoul in February 2020. The government has decided to allow companies to provide app-based cab-sharing services from the first half of 2021. [YONHAP]

The government has decided to permit apps that facilitate cab sharing within the first half of this year.

“In supporting the co-existence of taxis and the platform industry, we will allow voluntary sharing services within the first half of this year,” Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki said Wednesday during a government economic meeting. “We will also adopt a GPS-based app [taxi] metering system and ease regulations on franchise taxi-hailing services [which allow transportation platform companies to hire licensed taxi drivers].”

The government has also decided to expand the maps of roads that can be used on digital map services for autonomous vehicles within this year.

Also within this year, the government will be releasing a technology roadmap for 2023 through 2035 on urban air mobility. The plan will be focused on 118 technologies not only in development and production but also transportation, management, design and market expansion.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]