Hyundai, Samsung And KT Showcasing Autonomous Driving Tech Later This Month

Automaker Hyundai Motor and tech giant Samsung Electronics are joining forces with South Korean telecommunications company KT to showcase autonomous driving technology that runs on 5G network later this month.

Sources disclosed to The Investor early this week that the three companies are working together to demonstrate an autonomous driving vehicle that utilizes the next-generation network in late November.

No specific date was given but the showcase will reportedly take place during an event that celebrates the opening of K-City, a self-driving testing and research facility situated in Hwaseong City of Gyeonggi Province.

Top officials from the central and regional governments of South Korea are invited to come to the demonstration. Officials from the three companies are also expected to participate in the big event.

Work on the K-City testing facility for self-driving cars started in June 2016. The Korean government has spent 11 billion won or US$9.80 million in developing the research site that’s built on a 320,000-square-meter land. The facility is equipped with tollgates, crossroads and parking lots to simulate real-life driving conditions for the researchers.

The demonstration of the technology will mark the first time that three major players in the fields of automaking, electronics, and telecommunications are collaborating on a single project that’s focused on autonomous driving.

For the showcase, Hyundai will be the one in charge of developing advanced driver-assistance systems. On the other hand, Samsung will provide 5G network equipment that has the 3.5GHz band. As for KT, it is tasked to establish the 5G network facilities at the testing site.

“Domestic autonomous driving technology is considered to be far behind that in the U.S. and Europe, but the planned demonstration will prove the Korean firms’ technical capability for 5G-based autonomous driving,” an industry official said of the joint effort.

This isn’t the first time for Hyundai and KT to collaborate on a project about self-driving car technology. During the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, the two companies showcased autonomous vehicles together.