LG Uplus said on the 17th that it has partnered with All4Land, a spatial information specialist, to advance its next-generation Bus Information System (BIS) based on ultra-precise positioning technology.
The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the 16th at LG Uplus headquarters in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, to expand BIS. Key business officials attended, including Bae Jun-hyung, head (lead) of the mobility business TF at LG Uplus, and Nam Sang-kwan, head (vice president) of the business division at All4Land.
All4Land is a service company that connects key technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution—such as big data processing, cloud computing, and Blockchain—to spatial information to create synergies across various fields. Last year, it jointly developed with LG Uplus the BIS "AI Live Bus," based on ultra-precise positioning (Real Time Kinematic, RTK) technology.
Through this MOU, the two sides will enhance AI Live Bus and launch it as a subscription model to further expand adoption. The RTK from LG Uplus applied to AI Live Bus links ground reference stations and dedicated devices to reflect location information in real time down to the centimeter. It can also provide arrival times with no error by using AI to analyze road conditions, weather, time, and past arrival times.
In particular, AI Live Bus not only provides real-time location information but also offers an integrated management system that includes maintenance of related devices and generation of operating status statistics, improving user convenience. The two sides will strengthen the AI functions applied to the service to maximize the efficiency of the integrated management system, and will also apply newly developed RTK equipment to further advance AI Live Bus.
LG Uplus and All4Land will also jointly develop a bus stop BIT (Bus Information Terminal) that uses solar power to provide bus arrival information with low power consumption without separate electrical wiring work.
Conventional BITs required separate electrical line work and electronic devices, resulting in high initial construction costs, so they were introduced at less than about 30% of stops in rural areas. The low-power BIT being developed by the two sides uses solar panels and electronic paper (E-paper) to reduce the burden of line work and device costs, and is aimed for completion in the second half.
Going forward, the two sides plan to launch the low-power BIT as a subscription product as well and consider offering it together with AI Live Bus. They also plan to enhance AI Live Bus by adding route editing and bus operation management functions to improve user convenience.
"We will lead the establishment of smart transportation and urban infrastructure through the expansion of RTK-based BIS and low-power BIT," said Bae Jun-hyung, head of the mobility business TF at LG Uplus. "We will continue to develop a variety of functions and products with All4Land to create an even more convenient public transportation environment."
"By combining LG Uplus' world-class RTK technology with All4Land's Geo_AI technology, we were able to raise the quality of BIS service by a notch," said Nam Sang-kwan, head of the business division at All4Land. "We will continue to work with LG Uplus to create a variety of sustainable services."