Photo: KIA
People from California already know what it is like to drive on a public road along with Google’s driverless cars. Now, Nevada inhabitants will experiment this as well, because Kia has been granted access to test its autonomous technology on its Soul EV in real-world conditions.
The Korean company plans to introduce partially-autonomous driving technologies in its model range by 2020 and a full-autonomous one by 2030. It also plans to invest around $2 billion by 2018 in developing the new Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) and also in employing more engineers to carry out the job.
The ADAS will feature some extra systems among the usual technologies offered by Kia in its current range, including the Traffic Jam Assists, Highway Autonomous Driving, Urban Autonomous Driving, Emergency Stop System and Autonomous Valet Parking. All of these can be bypassed by the driver, if needed, and they will be introduced to market by 2020.
According to Dr. Tae-Won Lim, Vice President of the Central Advanced Research and Engineering Institute of Hyundai Motor Group, this license will allow the company to accelerate the testing of the partially and fully-autonomous technologies that are still in the early stages of development. He also says that the driverless car will no longer be a dream thanks to these testings.
On the long term, Kia is also focusing its resources on developing communications between vehicles and their surroundings. With this in mind, the Korean company wants to make the ADAS-equipped vehicles as safe and efficient as possible.
After it was granted a license to test its vehicles on public roads in the state of Nevada, Kia joins the giant company Google, who is also testing its cars in California. Since 2012, these types of cars have traveled more than 1 million miles on public roads. Google will also implement the new systems on its cars in 2020.
By 2030, or even sooner, you'll be able to see a driverless car near you at a traffic light, so there is still enough time to get used to this idea.
The ADAS will feature some extra systems among the usual technologies offered by Kia in its current range, including the Traffic Jam Assists, Highway Autonomous Driving, Urban Autonomous Driving, Emergency Stop System and Autonomous Valet Parking. All of these can be bypassed by the driver, if needed, and they will be introduced to market by 2020.
According to Dr. Tae-Won Lim, Vice President of the Central Advanced Research and Engineering Institute of Hyundai Motor Group, this license will allow the company to accelerate the testing of the partially and fully-autonomous technologies that are still in the early stages of development. He also says that the driverless car will no longer be a dream thanks to these testings.
On the long term, Kia is also focusing its resources on developing communications between vehicles and their surroundings. With this in mind, the Korean company wants to make the ADAS-equipped vehicles as safe and efficient as possible.
After it was granted a license to test its vehicles on public roads in the state of Nevada, Kia joins the giant company Google, who is also testing its cars in California. Since 2012, these types of cars have traveled more than 1 million miles on public roads. Google will also implement the new systems on its cars in 2020.
By 2030, or even sooner, you'll be able to see a driverless car near you at a traffic light, so there is still enough time to get used to this idea.
Google News