The South Korea government plans to launch a self-driving commercial bus service in the city of Sejong in 2022, to be expanded to other regions of the country later on.
The service, which is expected to use autonomous buses supplied by Hyundai, will have backup drivers in case of an emergency and also to help reassure passengers.
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The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said it will begin autonomous buses trials next month on a 9.8km route in Sejong, which are scheduled to last through to 2021 but will not involve the public.
Competition is intensifying rapidly in the autonomous vehicle segment, with a number of global partnerships having already been formed involving vehicle and component manufacturers, in the race to establish standardized underlying technologies and systems for the global market. Government support for real-life trials is seen as key to helping develop autonomous driving technologies.
In SeptemberSouth Korea components manufacturer Hyundai Mobis agreed to invest in a US$4bn joint venture with Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors and Ireland-based autonomous vehicle technology company Aptiv to develop a self-driving platform with Level 4 to 5 autonomous technologies by 2022.
Earlier this month Hyundai Mobis announced it is investing US$50m in leading US light detection and ranging (lidar) technology company VelodyneLidar to help speed up development and commercialisation of Level 3 autonomous driving lidar systems.
