World's first late-night self-driving bus to begin operations in Seoul on Monday

The autonomous bus, which will be operating near midnight in Seoul until the break of dawn, tested on Monday. [YONHAP]

The world’s first autonomously driven bus operating late night to early morning will officially commence operations in Seoul at 11:30 p.m. Monday.

The bus will travel 9.8 kilometers (6 miles) between Dongdaemun Station, a major shopping district, and Hapjeong Station, where many university campuses are clustered.

Two buses will operate between 11:30 p.m. and 5:10 a.m. One bus will depart from Hapjeong Station, while the other will depart from Dongdaemun Station.

The buses will depart every 70 minutes.

Bus information will be provided in real-time. For now, the city government plans to operate the bus for free.

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