Hyundai Wia Parking Robots Begin Autonomous Parking Trial at Korean Apartment Complex

Hyundai Motor Group has launched a parking robot pilot program through a consortium involving Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Wia, and Hyundai Engineering & Construction at Hillstate The Wave City apartment complex in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea.

The project aims to develop a robotic parking-operation model that addresses parking shortages, congestion, and safety challenges in apartment complexes and similar facilities. It is the first parking robot trial in South Korea to receive state funding through the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's smart-city regulatory sandbox.

The consortium will operate two sets of Hyundai Wia parking robots in a dedicated 53-space section on the first basement level of the apartment complex parking garage.

Hyundai Wia's parking robot uses two thin, wide units that slide underneath a vehicle, lift its wheels, and transport it automatically. When a driver leaves a vehicle in a designated pickup and drop-off area, the robot identifies the vehicle and moves it to an available parking space.

The system uses LiDAR sensors to identify vehicle wheel positions before lifting. It can automatically handle vehicles weighing up to 3.4 tons and move at speeds of up to 1.2 meters per second. Its omnidirectional movement allows vehicles to be positioned in tighter areas while improving parking-space efficiency.

During the trial, Hyundai Motor Group will evaluate parking and retrieval times, user waiting times, success rates, robot uptime, monthly throughput, and improvements in parking capacity.

The company expects the parking robots could increase parking capacity by 20% to 50% within the same floor area while reducing unnecessary vehicle movement, improving safety, and lowering emissions inside parking facilities.

The collected data will support future operating models and regulatory proposals for deploying parking robots across residential, commercial, office, public, and transportation facilities.

A Hyundai Motor Group official stated:

"This apartment-complex parking-robot trial goes beyond simple technology verification; it is an important step toward building a new parking paradigm for the smart-city era."

The trial represents Hyundai's continued expansion of robotics technology into smart-city infrastructure and automated mobility solutions.