Dtonic Joins the Cheonan-Asan 'AI City' Development Project
AI platform company Dtonic is moving beyond conventional smart cities to build an "AI City," where AI understands the city itself and physical AI connects it to the world.
Dtonic announced on the 22nd that it has been finally selected, together with Cheonan and Asan cities in South Chungcheong Province and other leading AI companies, for the "AI-Specialized Pilot City" project overseen by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. A total budget of 610.9 billion won will be invested in the Cheonan-Asan project alone.
Together with Cheonan and Asan, Dtonic will standardize urban data and convert it into forms usable by AI, establishing the operational foundation for a range of AI services across the city. The core of the project is transforming urban data, previously limited in usability due to inconsistent structures across institutions and mismatched spatiotemporal information, into a "standardized AI urban data system" that spans everything from collection and processing to agentic services. Building on this, the project will implement a city operating system that leverages agentic AI and physical AI, connecting and operating participating companies' AI technologies and services on a single platform. The data accumulated in this process will, in turn, feed into city-aware digital twins and next-generation AI service development, forming a virtuous cycle.
Dtonic leads in urban data platforms and AX (AI transformation), operating data hubs for major metropolitan governments including Seoul, Busan, Ulsan, Gyeongnam, Chungnam, and Chungbuk. It has also built up experience implementing urban-data-based AI services through successive participation in government AI data platform demonstration projects in Chungbuk, Jeju, and elsewhere.
On the 12th, Dtonic was also selected, in partnership with Busan, for the government-led "Smart City Specialized Zone Development Project." Together with the city of Busan, its affiliated organizations, and private companies, Dtonic plans to use the entire 1,202,100-square-meter Centum City area as an AI demonstration space, integrating urban data and AI services into a single operational flow to improve traffic and pedestrian safety, MICE and culture, AI industry support, and citizen-facing services.
Dtonic also plans to apply the technology and expertise it has built up through overseas smart city projects in Spain, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Mongolia to this new initiative.
Dtonic CEO Yong Joo Jun said, "The competitiveness of an AI City doesn't come from individual technologies, but from a platform ecosystem where diverse AI services work together organically. Dtonic will connect data and AI to build an AI City ecosystem that brings together a range of companies and institutions, and work with Cheonan and Asan to realize a world-class AI city model."
A total of six candidate cities applied for the AI-Specialized Pilot City project, with Cheonan-Asan, where Dtonic is participating, and Wonju ultimately selected.
Original article: Money Today – Dtonic Joins the Cheonan-Asan 'AI City' Development Project (in Korean)