Hyundai Motor Group has announced the test of Level 4 self-driving system to begin in 2022. Under the pilot program RoboRide, the company plans to run the test in downtown Seoul. For this, a completely electric compact Ioniq 5 will be used, the company stated.
Roboride is a new mobility service running under Hyundai Motor which will be working on Level 4 self-driving technology. The Korean automaker aims to set the bar for self-driving tech advancements before it commercially launches the service of unmanned vehicles.
Hyundai Motor held a press conference where the head of Hyundai Motor Group, Woon-jun, spoke to the media. “We’ve been developing autonomous driving technology for all to move around based on our philosophy of general safety and selective convenience,” he stated while making the big announcement.
Level 5 automation is where the autonomous car drives on its own in any condition. Whereas Level 4 is, although one of the most advanced cars, it drives on its own under limited conditions. The Society of Automotive Engineers International has laid down these Levels for global automakers.
At present, GM happens to be the only carmaker to get permission from the authorities to begin test driving in the international self-driving vehicle market. There’s a tight race among global automakers to commercialize self-driving cars, Hyundai being one of them.
The Korean automaker has partnered with Motional, the U.S. self-driving company and Lyft, the ride-hailing app for this project. The trio will work on the commercial launch of Level 4 autonomous mobility service in 2023.
Hyundai’s Level 4 automated vehicle will drive on its own for almost all road situations, with a few exceptions of sudden traffic jam cases. The officials have said that the updates on the RoboRide operation will be shared in the coming year, early in January.
The company recently unveiled a video showing the process of their new autonomous vehicle. It shows how the vehicle reads traffic lights, makes a U-turn, changes lanes, turning right or left. The video also shows how the vehicle will control the system and react to situations with road obstacles.
“We’re developing a fully autonomous technology that won’t require the driver’s intervention, based on the self-driving technology that has been verified and applied to existing models,” Jang explained while speaking at the press conference.
Jang also spoke on the upcoming plans on how the project will be commercialized in the automobile market. “We plan to introduce soon a robo-delivery service that will promote logistics efficiency,” Jang said.
The company awaits the planned operation scheduled next year as it will help the company validate its present technology and work on further tech advancements of autonomous driving.
