[Courtesy of Kakao Mobility]
SEOUL -- South Korea's Hyundai auto group tied up with the mobility service wing of South Korean web service giant Kakao to demonstrate and commercialize autonomous mobility services, starting with a taxi-hailing service using Hyundai's autonomous vehicle called "Roboride" which is based on IONIQ 5 electric vehicle models.
For self-driving that requires intervention by human drivers only in case of an emergency, the Roboride vehicle perceives, makes decisions, and controls its own driving status, while its safety driver will only intervene under limited conditions. A cooperative intelligent transport system (C-ITS) provides real-time information such as traffic conditions so that individual vehicles could share data and prevent traffic accidents.
Kakao Mobility and Hyundai Motor have signed a memorandum of understanding to demonstrate various services and develop businesses using autonomous driving technology. As the first step, they will introduce a pilot service for urban autonomous driving mobility by the end of 2022 that allows users to call and use the Roboride taxi, using Kakao Mobility's platform.
Kakao Mobility provides various services such as taxi-hailing, car park reservations, long-distance bus reservations, and train reservations through "Kakao T," an all-in-one smartphone app. Drivers can search for an empty parking space at a nearby car park and receive discounts. The most-used service is "Kakao Taxi," a taxi-hailing service that has more than 10 million monthly active users.
"This MOU will allow Hyundai Motor to introduce its autonomous driving technology to more customers using Kakao Mobility's platform," Jang Woong-jun, head of Hyundai Motor's autonomous driving center, said in a statement on Sep[tember 19. "The two companies will actively cooperate so that customers can easily use Roboride in their daily lives."
The goal is to expand the scope of cooperation to provide autonomous driving services through various vehicles in various environments. "We hope that Kakao Mobility's platform capabilities and Hyundai's autonomous driving technology will allow more citizens to access autonomous driving services and pave the way for the commercialization of autonomous driving," Kakao Mobility's future mobility research center head Chang Sung-wook was quoted as saying.
In June, a pilot car-hailing service using two Roboride vehicles began in a congested area in southern Seoul. Jin Mobility, a domestic startup operating an artificial intelligence-powered car-hailing mobility platform, was in charge of operating the service.
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