The autonomous SUV with an empty driver's seat will drive on Seoul's roads starting as early as October. Courtesy of Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport

An autonomous vehicle without a human driver will be on public roads for the first time in Korea as early as October, as the vehicle has received temporary approval to do so from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the ministry said Wednesday.

So far, autonomous vehicles under testing, which the ministry approved for use on public roads, were required to have a person behind the wheel in case of emergency or were limited to vehicles with a top speed of 10 kilometers per hour or those used for special purposes, such as road cleaning trucks.

The upcoming test, scheduled to be conducted in western Seoul near World Cup Stadium during the fourth quarter of this year, is different from earlier trials in that the test vehicle runs at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour, a common legal speed limit on local roads here, and is an ordinary SUV.

Developed by a local startup and with its safety features checked at the country's biggest autonomous test driving site in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, the test vehicle is a white SUV equipped with light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors, radar, cameras and GPS.

An emergency shutdown button is inside and outside the car. It will drive in a 3.2 kilometer circuit in western Seoul and the test hours will be limited to 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. to avoid rush hour traffic.

“The country has seen a total of 437 vehicles that the ministry approved to test their autonomous technologies on roads since 2016,” an official from the automated driving policy division under the ministry's mobility and motor vehicles bureau said. “I hope the latest test will revolutionize once again the country's autonomous vehicle industry.”

Autonomous vehicle tests are now being conducted outside Korea in the United States, China, Japan and Canada, according to the ministry.