Kakao Mobility's First Tech Conference 'NEXT MOBILITY: NEMO 2022' Held
CEO Ryu Geung-seon "Focusing on the 'Possibility' of Changing Our Daily Lives Beyond Advancing Mobility"
"This Year Marks the 'First Year of Digital Twin Creation'... Digital Transformation Attempts in All Areas of Mobility"
[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] Kakao Mobility has set the company's direction as 'Next Mobility' and revealed a vision to innovate the mobility process with new technologies. The plan is to lead the mobility industry with innovative technologies such as autonomous driving and UAM (Urban Air Mobility).
On the 10th, Kakao Mobility CEO Ryu Geung-seon unveiled this corporate vision at the tech conference ‘NEXT MOBILITY: NEMO 2022’ hosted by Kakao Mobility.
CEO Ryu said, "Kakao Mobility has grown with the goal of encompassing all means of transportation including taxis, designated drivers, trains, bikes, shuttles, and even autonomous driving," adding, "Now, we will focus not only on advancing transportation means but also on the 'possibility' and 'More ability' to change our daily lives."
He stated that they are exploring ways to minimize unnecessary movement through the movement of objects and services. By innovating vehicles into spaces for more productive activities through autonomous driving technology and expanding mobility methods from ground to air with new means like UAM, they aim to enhance the quality of mobility experiences.
CEO Ryu expects these changes to significantly transform urban landscapes. By reducing urban congestion and unnecessary parking spaces, more public land can be secured and utilized as parks, green spaces, cultural facilities, and other spaces needed by everyone.
He said, "Kakao Mobility cannot achieve this task alone," emphasizing, "We will continue to invest heavily in future technology development and prepare for the future through win-win cooperation with domestic and international partners and suppliers with excellent technological capabilities."
Additionally, Kakao Mobility has designated this year as the ‘first year of digital twin creation’ to prepare for the upcoming artificial intelligence (AI) era and embark on new challenges. Digital twin technology involves creating identical objects (twins) in virtual space to verify them through various simulations.
Regarding this, Kakao Mobility CTO Yoo Seung-il said, "Based on accumulated data that has driven digital innovation across various service areas such as short-distance travel, wide-area transportation, personal mobility, and last-mile delivery, we will attempt digital transformation in all mobility domains including passenger, logistics, and services."
Until now, the mobility market has largely relied on humans for ‘perception and judgment’ areas such as driving and operation planning, and Kakao Navi collects information in a form that requires human input and provides it in a way convenient for humans to use.
In the future AI era, Kakao Mobility believes that it will be necessary to integrate various sensor information attached to moving objects to perceive the surrounding environment, make judgments, plan routes, and build navigation for AI that provides diverse information such as surrounding traffic volume, traffic light status, and lane positions.
CTO Yoo explained, "By building navigation for AI that provides information such as surrounding traffic volume, traffic light status, and lane positions, the amount of information machines need to collect and the judgment burden can be reduced, dramatically improving safety and efficiency."
He added, "The goal of Kakao Mobility’s technology is to ‘enable AI to understand our world.’ We will create a window of 3D spatial information so that machines can understand our world and its mobility, and provide this data and information not only to Kakao Mobility’s machines but also to various external partners’ AI."
The event was also attended by Chris Urmson, CEO of the U.S. autonomous driving technology developer 'Aurora,' and Florian Reuter, CEO of the German UAM specialist company 'Volocopter,' who shared their companies’ future visions.
CEO Urmson introduced the social utility value that autonomous driving technology can bring. He emphasized, "Autonomous driving makes roads safer, enhances accessibility for vulnerable road users, improves logistics supply chains, and simultaneously raises quality of life. The need for autonomous driving technology is more urgent than ever."
He explained, "For the global spread of autonomous driving technology, talent, partners, technology, and commercialization direction are important. Aurora is focusing on building autonomous driving technology through collaborations with truck companies ‘Volvo’ and ‘PACCAR,’ automakers ‘Toyota,’ logistics company ‘FedEx,’ and ride-hailing service ‘Uber.’"
CEO Reuter introduced the status of their aircraft development and the future vision of UAM technology. He said, "Korea is expected to be one of the countries that can adopt UAM services the fastest," adding, "We plan to soon announce the results of UAM demonstration research conducted in Seoul through collaboration with Kakao Mobility."
On the 10th, at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, models showcased Kakao Mobility's proprietary autonomous driving vehicle at the tech conference "Next Mobility: NEMO 2022." Hosted by Kakao Mobility, this conference brought together global tech-leading companies at the mobility tech conference NEMO 2022, where attendees could explore future mobility technologies such as autonomous driving and HD maps. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@
The exhibition booth featured experiential spaces where visitors could grasp Kakao Mobility’s technological vision at a glance. At the front of the exhibition hall, an autonomous vehicle developed with Kakao Mobility’s own technology was displayed. Kakao Mobility previously developed safer autonomous driving technology by fusing sensor information from over 20 LiDARs, radars, and cameras with HD map data. It incorporates perception technology that predicts the movements of surrounding vehicles in complex urban environments and judgment technology that ensures safe arrival even in various situations such as illegal parking, tailgating, and jaywalking.
Inside the vehicle, an AVV (autonomous vehicle visualizer) system was applied, allowing passengers to check the driving situation through the vehicle’s perception and judgment, enhancing user convenience. Currently, one such autonomous vehicle is being pilot-operated in parts of Seongnam Pangyo, with plans to expand the pilot areas and number of vehicles.
The mobile mapping system (MMS) ARGOS, also developed with Kakao Mobility’s own technology, was introduced. ARGOS is a mobile mapping system that builds digital twins by implementing high-precision maps (HD maps) using positioning sensors regardless of indoor or outdoor environments. To overcome the limitations of existing vehicle systems, it was designed to be lightweight and modular, capable of responding regardless of sensor types and configurations.
It features advanced satellite navigation system (GNSS) correction technology and spatiotemporal synchronization technology, and can be implemented in various forms such as autonomous driving, robotics, advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), and UAM.
On the 10th, at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, an employee demonstrated the future autonomous vehicle concept model 'LG Omnipod' at the tech conference 'Next Mobility: NEMO 2022'. Hosted by Kakao Mobility, this conference brought together global tech leading companies at the mobility tech conference NEMO 2022 to showcase future mobility technologies such as autonomous driving and HD maps. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@
The future autonomous driving concept ‘LG Omnipod’ was also unveiled in physical form for the first time at the event. This is a future mobility cabin that can be reconfigured according to various purposes, such as transforming the vehicle interior into an office space or an entertainment space for movie watching, exercising, camping, and more. Various data using KakaoMap are applied, and it can be summoned in various forms through KakaoT.
Park Il-pyeong, CEO of LG Science Park, explained about the Omnipod, "We approached it as a ‘mobile space’ focusing on the experience passengers can enjoy during travel time, beyond just a means of transportation. It can also be seen as a home equipped with mobility functions rather than just a car."
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