Hyundai has announced plans to team up with Korean rideshare company RoboRide to trail its level 4 autonomous driving features with a pair of IONIQ 5 EVs on the streets of Seoul.
The collaboration marks the first car-hailing service to be using autonomous driving vehicles on the streets of Gangnam, one of the most congested areas in Seoul.
Hyundai got the nod from the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for the trial, and is teaming up with a company called Jin Mobility which will be in charge of monitoring the artificial intelligence side of things.
Hyundai says it will be gathering a heap of data to further refine its level 4 autonomous driving tech in the hope of rolling out a fleet of vehicles fitted with self-driving features.
RoboRide says the self-driving IONIQ 5 vehicles will be operating from 10am to 4pm to avoid the worst of Seoul’s congestion, ferrying up to three passengers at a time with a safety driver sitting in the captain’s chair to stay on top of any errors.
While the trial is a bit of a baptism of fire on the surface, Hyundai has actually been testing out its autonomous driving systems in and around Gangnam, Seoul since 2019.
Hyundai’s senior VP and head of the autonomous driving centre, Woongjun Jang, said”
“We are development level 4 autonomous driving technology based on the internally developed advanced driving support system, whose functionality and safety are verified through mass production and successful commercial launch.
“We expect this RoboRide pilot service will be an important inflection point that will enable us to internalise autonomous driving technology.”
