Operation of Two Level 4 Autonomous Driving Ioniq 5 Vehicles
Data Accumulation for Commercial Service After Pilot Service for Employees of Both Companies
[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Kakao Mobility announced on the 10th that it will showcase an autonomous driving pilot service in the Gangnam area of Seoul in collaboration with Hyundai Motor Company. The two companies signed an MOU in September for "cooperation in autonomous driving mobility service demonstration and commercialization" and have been collaborating on autonomous driving demonstrations.
The service introduced by the two companies in Gangnam is an urban autonomous driving mobility pilot service that allows users to call and use Hyundai Motor Company's self-developed Ioniq 5 "RoboRide" through Kakao Mobility's "Kakao T" platform. The RoboRide vehicle, developed by Hyundai Motor Group, is optimized for urban autonomous driving, featuring capabilities such as traffic signal integration, pedestrian and motorcycle avoidance, and obstacle detection and self-control in urban environments. Kakao Mobility will manage the entire service operation, from calling, dispatching, routing, service policy establishment, to customer experience management, aiming to build a platform optimized for urban autonomous passenger transport services.
Users can call the vehicle using the existing Kakao T app without the hassle of installing a separate app or signing up. During the pilot operation period, the service will be available only to employees and affiliates of both companies. Considering citizens' commuting hours, the operating hours are limited to weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The service will deploy two Ioniq 5 vehicles equipped with Level 4 autonomous driving technology. It will operate on an on-demand basis, allowing users to call the "RoboRide" vehicle at any desired time without a fixed route, covering the Gangnam area including Yeongdong-daero with 14 lanes in both directions and Teheran-ro with 10 lanes in both directions. A safety driver will be on board each vehicle.
Gangnam is the area with the longest total drivable roads among autonomous driving pilot zones and is known as the most densely populated and traffic-congested area in Korea, making it one of the most challenging places to implement autonomous driving services. Accordingly, Kakao Mobility's platform technologies such as real-time traffic information analysis, optimal route calculation, and AI dispatch are expected to play a more comprehensive role.
The two companies plan to leverage the know-how and technological capabilities gained through the pilot service operation to apply them to commercial services for the general public in the future by focusing on data analysis and technology advancement. They will also cooperate to introduce autonomous driving services in more diverse environments and with various vehicles.
Kakao Mobility explained that based on the unparalleled platform capabilities accumulated through Korea's leading mobility platform "Kakao T," it has been advancing the foundational technologies required for the commercialization of autonomous driving services while collaborating with various large corporations, startups, and research institutions to establish a domestic autonomous driving ecosystem.
Jang Woong-jun, Executive Director of Hyundai Motor's Autonomous Driving Business Division, said, "We are very excited to launch the autonomous driving pilot service for the first time in collaboration with Kakao Mobility," adding, "We will continue to strive to enable customers to experience safer and more convenient autonomous driving technologies across various platforms."
Jang Sung-wook, Vice President of Kakao Mobility's Future Mobility Research Institute, said, "Gangnam is considered one of the most complex urban areas globally, and through collaboration with Hyundai, Korea's leading automobile manufacturer, we can accelerate the development of urban autonomous driving technology," adding, "We will continue to actively collaborate with startups, large corporations, and research institutions to ensure that the platform technologies accumulated by Kakao Mobility contribute to the service realization of individual autonomous driving technologies."
Meanwhile, Kakao Mobility has introduced autonomous passenger services in Sejong City, Pangyo, and Gangnam areas, and plans to collaborate with Autonomous A2Z and RideFlux to launch integrated passenger and logistics autonomous driving services in Daegu and Jeju in the future.
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