Kakao Mobility Hosts 'Autonomous Driving AI Challenge'... Releases Training Dataset

Kakao Mobility announced on the 27th that it will hold the '2024 Autonomous Driving Artificial Intelligence (AI) Challenge' using autonomous driving AI training data. Applications will be accepted for about four weeks until the 20th of next month.

The Autonomous Driving AI Challenge is a competition that uses publicly available datasets built through the 'Autonomous Driving Technology Development Innovation Project,' a national project by the Ministry of Science and ICT, to develop and advance autonomous driving AI. It is hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and jointly organized by Kakao Mobility, the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation, the Autonomous Driving Technology Development Innovation Project Group, and the Autonomous Driving DNA Technology Forum.

Kakao Mobility will release the autonomous driving datasets constructed under the Autonomous Driving Technology Development Innovation Project for this challenge.

For the 2024 Autonomous Driving AI Challenge, any company, startup, university, or individual interested in related technology development can participate by forming teams of 3 to 4 members. After submitting the application, participants must submit their results during the main competition period, which continues until November 1. Winners will be selected through expert evaluation, and an awards ceremony is scheduled for mid-November.

Each participating team will develop an autonomous driving AI model suited to the given theme using the 'camera and LiDAR sensor datasets' provided by Kakao Mobility. The development themes include four categories: ▲3D object detection for vehicles (highest difficulty) ▲complex state recognition of vehicle objects (high difficulty) ▲3D object detection for edge-infrastructure (medium difficulty) ▲traffic light recognition for vehicles (low difficulty). Teams may participate in multiple categories.

A total of eight teams will be awarded. The grand prize winner in the highest difficulty category, 3D object detection for vehicles, will receive the Minister of Science and ICT Award and a cash prize of 4.5 million KRW. The grand prize winners in the other three categories will receive the Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation President’s Award and cash prizes according to the difficulty level (up to 4 million KRW). Excellence awards in each category will receive the Kakao Mobility CEO Award and a cash prize of 1 million KRW. Additionally, the first 50 teams to complete submission of their results will receive a small gift for all team members.

Jang Sung-wook, head of Kakao Mobility’s Future Mobility Research Center, said, "Through this challenge, we hope participants will enhance their ability to utilize autonomous driving AI data, grow into outstanding talents, and that the related R&D ecosystem will be revitalized together."

Meanwhile, Kakao Mobility is participating in the government project 'Autonomous Driving Technology Development Innovation Project,' led by the Ministry of Science and ICT, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the National Police Agency. To realize Level 4 autonomous driving services, it is developing integrated autonomous driving data generation, management, and distribution automation technology by linking vehicles, edge-infrastructure, and intelligent learning.