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MoveAWheeL

Category: AI in Government / Public Sector

An AI-powered road safety solution that utilizes non-contact acoustic sensors to detect road surface hazards like black ice, flooding, and potholes in real-time. MoveAWheeL was founded in 2020. The company is led by Minhyun Kim. Based in Daejeon, South Korea. Team size: 10-20. Total funding raised: ₩2.5B - ₩3.0B (Cumulative est.). Latest round: Pre-Series A. Key investors include ["Kiwoom Investment","Sopoong Ventures","D3 Jubilee Partners","Shinhan Capital"].

Founded
2020
Headquarters
Daejeon, South Korea
Team size
10-20
Total funding
₩2.5B - ₩3.0B (Cumulative est.)

Value proposition

Provides high-accuracy (95-98%) road condition data at a 50% lower cost than traditional CCTV systems, functioning effectively in poor lighting or weather conditions where cameras and LiDAR often fail.

Products and solutions

["EG-Way: A cloud-based integrated road information platform for real-time monitoring and alert systems.","EG-Way Model V: A vehicle-mounted AI sensor designed for real-time surface analysis in autonomous vehicles and robo-taxis.","EG-Way Mobile: A compact mobility-optimized sensor for diverse transport systems.","Automated Maintenance Integration: A system that triggers snow removal or de-icing equipment automatically based on detected road conditions."]

Unique value

World's first 'Active Sound Wave' AI material classification technology that emits ultrasonic/sonic waves and analyzes reflection patterns to identify over 20 types of road surfaces without interference from ambient noise.

Target customer

Local governments and municipalities (Smart City departments), road management agencies, autonomous vehicle (AV) developers, and robo-taxi operators.

Industries served

["Smart City & Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)","Autonomous Driving & Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS)","Public Infrastructure & Road Maintenance","Logistics & Fleet Management"]

Technology advantage

Combines deep-tech acoustic impedance analysis with AI to detect 'invisible' hazards like black ice (0.1mm-1mm thickness) at a frequency of 100+ detections per second, significantly improving the safety of autonomous driving systems.

How they differentiate

MoveAWheeL utilizes proprietary 'Active Sound Wave' AI (acoustic impedance analysis) rather than optical or radar sensors. This allows for 95-98% hazard detection accuracy (including 0.1mm-1mm black ice) in all weather and lighting conditions at 50% the cost of traditional CCTV-based systems.

Main competitors

["Vaisala","BitSensing","Lufft (OTT HydroMet)"]

Key partnerships

["SWM (Autonomous driving partnership for robo-taxi sensor integration)","Public Procurement Service (Designated 'Innovative Product' status for public sector sales)","Daejeon Metropolitan City & JDC (Jeju Development Center) (Field test and smart city implementation partners)","Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Selected for the 'Super Gap Startup 1000+' project)"]

Notable customers

["Daejeon Metropolitan City","JDC (Jeju Free International City Development Center)","SWM (Autonomous Driving/Robo-taxi)"]

Major milestones

["Founded in August 2020 (KAIST spin-off)","Raised ₩800M Seed round at ₩10B valuation in 2022","Selected for TIPS program in July 2022 (₩500M R&D fund)","CEO awarded the 'Korea Engineer Award' by the Ministry of Science and ICT in 2023","Partnership with SWM for Robo-taxi sensor integration in October 2025","Pursuing Series A round for global expansion and 2028 IPO target (as of 2026)"]

Growth metrics

Reached cumulative funding of approx. ₩3B; achieves 98% accuracy in road surface classification; designated as an 'Innovative Product' by the Korean Public Procurement Service.

Market positioning

Deep-tech infrastructure safety challenger focusing on AIoT road sensors for smart cities and autonomous driving (Level 4/5).

Geographic focus

South Korea (Current focus), targeting global infrastructure markets in North America and Europe by 2028.

Patents and IP

Holds multiple proprietary patents in South Korea for 'Acoustic Signal Processing-based Road Surface Analysis' and 'Non-contact Road State Detection Systems'. CEO Minhyun Kim was awarded the 'Korea Engineer Award' for these specific technological contributions.

About Minhyun Kim

Minhyun Kim is the Founder and CEO of MoveAWheeL. He founded the company in August 2020 while pursuing a Ph.D. at the KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) Automotive Control Laboratory. He is a recognized expert in acoustic signal processing and AI-based road surface condition analysis. In December 2023, he was awarded the 'Korea Engineer Award' by the Ministry of Science and ICT for his contributions to road safety technology, specifically the development of non-contact acoustic sensors for real-time black ice detection.

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