Hanjin has launched South Korea’s first paid autonomous truck freight service, moving the technology from demonstration into revenue-generating freight operations on a fixed logistics route. The logistics company recently completed a pilot project with a 25-ton autonomous freight truck and began commercial operations after obtaining a paid freight transport permit from South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The vehicle is being used for line-haul freight movement, carrying parcel cargo between logistics facilities. The service operates on a one-way route of about 118 kilometers, or 73 miles, from Gunsan Port in North Jeolla Province through Hanjin’s Jeonju parcel terminal to the company’s Daejeon Mega Hub. The truck is expected to operate three times per week, with a trained safety operator remaining in the driver’s seat to respond if needed. Instead of attempting broad, open-ended deployment, Hanjin is using a repeatable route between known logistics nodes. That type of controlled line-haul operation can give autonomous truck developers, logistics companies, regulators, and fleet operators more consistent data on vehicle performance, route conditions, safety procedures, and operational fit. The operation was launched under the Saemangeum Autonomous Transport Commercial Vehicle Demonstration Support Infrastructure Development Project, which is overseen by South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The deployment offers a practical example of how the technology may enter freight networks first: on defined routes, with known origin and destination points, under government approval, and with human oversight still in place.