[Hyundai Motors YouTube channel]
Hyundai Motor's Genesis won South Korea's first license Monday as an autonomous car which was allowed to drive on government-designated roads stretching a total of 320 kilometers (192 miles).
After Google’s autonomous Lexus RX45hSUB crashed into a bus on February 29, experts suggested that the self-driving system is not yet ready for actual driving under difficult and complicated road conditions.
But South Korea's transportation ministry came out aggressively for the early commercialization of autonomous cars, vowing to ease restrictions so that Hyundai Motor can test its self-driving car in any places in the second half of this year.
"We will join forces to commercialize autonomous cars capable of moving safely by fixing problems through test driving," minister Kang Ho-in said in a ceremony to provide a license plate.
In experimental driving earlier, the Genesis showed its abilities, overtaking slow-moving vehicles and returning to a previous lane without a driver.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
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