Kia tests remote-driven PV5 vans for car sharing in Korea

Kia has launched what it calls South Korea’s first car-sharing service built on remote driving. The pilot started on Thursday in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, using the PV5 electric van, and runs until the end of the year, Electrek reports.

How it works

The idea removes the walk to a parking spot:

• Book in an app. Customers reserve a PV5 through a dedicated app.
• The van comes to you. With no one on board, the PV5 is delivered to the requested location by a remote driver.
• Drive it yourself. You use the van as normal and park it where you finish.
• It goes home on its own. A remote driver then returns the vehicle to its garage over a 4G or 5G connection.

This is remote driving, not self-driving: a human operator controls the vehicle from a distance whenever nobody is behind the wheel. Kia says the model could help businesses run more efficiently without the burden of owning a fleet.

Who is involved

Kia supplies the PV5 vans and leads the project. Startup SUM develops the remote-driving system, Mobiops runs the service, and the Korea Road Traffic Authority helps with regulatory reviews. Gyeonggi Province, telecom operator KT and several local organisations support it as partners.

The pilot builds on earlier steps. According to Electrek, Kia received a special exemption under a remote-driving regulatory sandbox from Korea’s transport ministry in April. In November 2025 it formed a remote-driving consortium with Socar, KT and SUM for a public-road demonstration, and in July it signed an agreement with KT and SUM aimed at commercialising the technology within a year.

What comes next

During the trial, the partners will check how the technology and the service hold up in real conditions. Kia plans to use the data to improve the system and expand PV5-based remote-driving services in 2027.

For a different route to driverless mobility, see Waymo’s plans for Toronto and Volvo’s automated driving work with Nvidia.