Kia succeeded in the first on-road remote driving demonstration among domestic automakers.
On the 27th in Jeju, Kia held a "remote driving demonstration results sharing session" and disclosed the status of its remote driving technology development. Attendees included key officials from Kia, SOCAR, Start - Up SUM, KT, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Jeju Special Self-Governing Province.
Remote driving is a technology that operates and controls driverless vehicles from an external control center using 4G and 5G wireless networks. With a high level of technical maturity, services can be introduced quickly, and it can serve as an alternative when an Autonomous Driving vehicle malfunctions or experiences an abnormality. As such, it is drawing attention as a solution linked to various mobility services and for supporting transportation-disadvantaged areas.
In Apr. of this year, Kia obtained a regulatory sandbox demonstration exemption for remote driving from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, formed a "remote driving consortium" with SOCAR, SUM, and KT, and began remote driving demonstrations in Jeju and Hwaseong. Kia led the project overall, while SOCAR provided the car-sharing platform. In addition, SUM handled development of the remote solution and operation of the demonstration vehicles, and KT was responsible for building and managing the networks needed for remote driving.
Assuming a scenario of operating a car-sharing service, the consortium developed a new system for remote driving based on Kia's new-concept midsize purpose-built vehicle (PBV), the PV5.
Over the past month, using the PV5 and others, the consortium completed about 70 hours and 1,000 km of driving tests on several public road sections in the Jeju area, including Jeju Airport–Jeju SOCAR Terminal and Jeju Airport–Yongduam.
Leveraging the various data obtained through the Jeju demonstration project, the consortium will further advance the technology and plans to work with multiple local governments going forward to continue verifying the effectiveness of remote driving using the PV5.