“Drive Wise” is a new concept introduced by Kia at CES 2016 to cover its future Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). This comes not long after the South Korean carmaker expressed its intentions to build partially autonomous cars by 2020 and to launch its first driverless vehicle before 2030.
Although the technology is still under development, its primary goal is to improve safety for all road users. Kia will introduce it to its future model range to eliminate potential threats, or in some cases, the boredom of driving, as the fully autonomous car is now inevitable.
The South Korean company came to CES with the sole purpose of showing the progression of its current autonomous driving technologies or those that will be developed under the “Drive Wise” sub-brand in the next 15 years.
As Tae-Won Lim, Senior Vice President at Central Advanced Research and Engineering Institute of Hyundai Motor Group, stated, “Kia is undergoing a very promising and gradual process of introducing partially and fully autonomous technologies to its vehicles. Although the first marketable fully-autonomous car from Kia will not be available in the immediate future, the work our R&D teams are currently doing to develop our range of DRIVE WISE technologies is already improving on-road safety and driver assistance. The innovations presented at this year’s show demonstrate the future direction we are taking.”
Systems such as Highway Autonomous Driving, Urban Autonomous Driving, Preceding Vehicle Following, Emergency Stop System, Traffic Jam Assist or the Autonomous Parking & Out will help eliminate many downsides of driving on today’s congested roads, including dangers, stresses or hassles, and will allow the driver to focus more on the pleasure of driving.
Drive Wise technologies will also improve communication and the interaction between the driver and the car with the new Human Machine Interface (HMI) functions, such as gesture control, fingerprint sensors and smart device connectivity.
Thanks to HMI, the future cars from Kia will be able to recognize individual drivers’ preferences on start-up, based on their fingerprints or even their smartwatches, and change the cabin atmosphere accordingly.
After the state of Nevada recently granted Kia an exclusive license to test the new technologies on public roads and in normal traffic conditions, the South Korean carmaker is said to have plans to invest around $2 billion in the development of state-of-the-art technologies under its new Drive Wise sub-brand by 2018.
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