South Korea’s telecommunication’s incumbent SK Telecom is in collaboration with the Korean Transportation Safety Authority (KOTSA) on an innovative self-driving project.
The largest mobile operator in the country has conducted test using two self-driving vehicles which shared traffic information via SK Telecom’s pre-standard 5G network. The trials took place in Hwaseong Korea’s K-City for autonomous driving.
In a statement released to the press, the operator disclosed that the two self-driving cars used vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications technology during the rigorous testing session. They had as well 3D HD map and deep learning based decision making technology in order to communicate effectively with each other.
The primary objective of the tests was to determine whether or not the two self-driving cars could successfully communicate with each other and share traffic information with a control center and traffic lights.
SKT confirmed that the two autonomous vehicles which were co-produced with the KOTSA safety completed trials without any issues. The testing was conducted on a 2km track, which included a school zone, crossroads and a highway. The South Korean telecommunications colossus further disclosed that it deployed a 5G network using the 28GHz frequency band across K-City.
In addition to this, it was disclosed that SKT plans to introduce its self-driving technology on the country’s main highways in 2019 using its 5G network. A representative for the operator revealed that it co-developed AI technology which helps self-driving cars make decisions independently with Seoul National University.
It is expected that Nvidia will deploy its quantum technology-based security module which can prevent attempts to hack communications between self-driving cars and the control center or Internet of Things devices.
A spokesman for KOTSA confirmed that in January of this year it constructed a so-called 5G network in order to test autonomous vehicles in K-City.