A bill to create a dedicated legal framework for "physical AI" — AI systems that perceive and act autonomously in physical space (robots, autonomous vehicles, drones, etc.) — moved from committee referral to committee review on 8 September 2026. The bill is not yet law: no threshold, effective date, or penalty regime is fixed at this stage, and further committee, plenary, and promulgation steps remain. It would primarily affect businesses that develop, pilot, or commercialize physical AI systems in Korea, including in government-designated pilot zones, once (and if) enacted.

As drafted, the bill would:

  • Establish a whole-of-government control tower (a Physical AI Development Promotion Committee chaired by the Prime Minister) and require a triennial national basic plan plus annual implementing plans by relevant ministries.
  • Let MSIT (Ministry of Science and ICT) designate "pilot zones" where operators can request confirmation of applicable regulations and apply for regulatory sandbox treatment specific to physical AI.
  • Create a deemed-approval sandbox mechanism: MSIT would have 60 days to decide on a sandbox application, with non-response within that period treated as approval, and sandbox validity extended to 5 years (versus 2 years under the existing ICT sandbox). Related-agency review turnaround would be cut from 30 to 15 days (up to 30 days if supplementation is needed).
  • Introduce a one-stop, multi-statute sandbox application channel so operators would no longer need to file separately under the Industrial Convergence Promotion Act, the ICT Convergence Act, and the Mobility Innovation Act.
  • Provide a performance/safety certification regime for physical AI systems, with certification revocable if obtained by false or fraudulent means, and a duty to disclose and remediate defects that fail to meet certification standards.
  • Exempt anonymized personal information and location data collected during physical AI research/operation from the Personal Information Protection Act and the Location Information Act, and permit collection/use of video and audio data for safety and performance improvement.
  • Require operators researching or piloting physical AI in a pilot zone to carry insurance (with possible government premium support), and allow the Committee to exclude a sandbox participant from continued regulatory relief if their operation causes harm to others.

What this means for you

  • No compliance action is required yet. This is a pending bill at the committee-review stage, not an enacted law — track it rather than act on it now.
  • If you operate or plan to pilot robots, autonomous vehicles, drones, or similar physical AI systems in Korea, note the proposed pilot-zone sandbox mechanism (60-day deemed approval, 5-year validity) as a potential future pathway to faster regulatory clearance.
  • If your data practices involve anonymized personal or location information from physical AI operations, watch for the proposed PIPA/location-data carve-out — it could change your compliance posture once (and if) finalized, but does not apply today.
  • Re-check this bill's status before relying on any of its provisions, particularly the sandbox timelines, certification regime, and insurance requirement, as these could change during further legislative review.

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