Seoul Facilities Corporation to Proactively Address Fires, Crowds and Potholes with AI

[Financial News] Seoul Facilities Corporation is establishing a preventive safety-management system that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to detect and respond in advance to safety risks closely related to residents’ daily lives, including fires, crowding and potholes. On the 11th, Seoul Facilities Corporation said it was expanding the system across major facilities. The move shifts away from responding only after accidents occur and uses AI to identify warning signs early and take proactive measures.
The corporation is first introducing AI-based fire-prevention systems at facilities vulnerable to fires. At municipal cemeteries, which draw large numbers of visitors during the Chuseok holiday, it has established an AI wildfire-monitoring system consisting of 12 CCTV cameras and an integrated server. When the AI detects smoke or flames, the control room promptly takes initial action.
At the Gupabal Station Transfer Parking Lot in Seoul, the corporation has established a fire-detection system that uses existing CCTV cameras to automatically detect smoke and flames. At seven underground shopping centers in Yeongdeungpo District and Myeong-dong, it installed AIoT-based electrical-fire prevention systems combining AI with the Internet of Things (IoT).
The AI-based safety-management system has also been applied at stadiums where large crowds gather. Seoul World Cup Stadium uses an AI server, lidar sensors and surveillance CCTV cameras to analyze crowd density and classify risk into four levels. When congestion rises, electronic displays and speakers provide visitors with real-time updates.
Jangchung Arena has installed intelligent CCTV cameras to detect pedestrian traffic and unusual signs while analyzing crowd density in designated intensive-management areas. At the alert and critical levels, the system displays the hazardous locations and warnings, and additional on-site personnel are deployed when necessary.
AI technology has been applied to detect potholes and wrong-way entry by pedestrians and others onto motor-vehicle-only roads. Vehicles equipped with an AI video-detection system patrol the roads and detect potholes in real time. Once a pothole is found, a dedicated repair team is dispatched immediately, with the damage repaired within 24 hours.
If pedestrians, electric scooters or two-wheeled vehicles mistakenly enter motor-vehicle-only roads, AI video detectors identify the incidents in real time. The corporation has established a response system that takes swift action within 10 minutes of detection.
The AI-based road-safety system has also produced results. According to the corporation, no pedestrian fatalities occurred on motor-vehicle-only roads in 2025, after such deaths were reported every year from 2020 to 2023. The number of illegal wrong-way entries also fell by 33% in 2025 compared with the previous period.
The corporation is pursuing not only internal safety management but also a “collaborative AI transformation” that connects private-sector technology with public infrastructure. Led by the AI Transformation Task Force established in January this year, it is opening major facilities, including Gocheok Sky Dome and Seoul Children’s Grand Park, as test beds for demonstrating AI technologies.
Demonstration projects are currently underway to verify the energy-saving effects of energy storage systems (ESS) at major facilities and to test a platform that detects early signs of sensor abnormalities in structures at public parking lots across Seoul.
Han Guk-young, president of Seoul Facilities Corporation, said, “AI is not an end in itself, but a tool for improving citizens’ safety and convenience. We will proactively manage everyday risks involving fires, crowds and roads with AI, while actively connecting with outside expertise to create changes that citizens can feel.”
[email protected] Han Guk-young Reporter