Co-development of AVs
In a bid to research and develop an autonomous vehicle which is considered a next-generation global growth engine, South Korea’s mobile carrier and the nation’s largest road infrastructure manager are joining their forces. Ushering in the era of driverless cars, the nation’s industry leaders are cooperating to secure the leadership in the domestic market.
SK Telecom, Korea Expressway Corporation and Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute of Korea announced on September 8 that they signed a memorandum of understanding at SK Telecom's Institute of Technology in Bundang, agreeing to cooperate for the co-development of the next-generation “Vehicle-to-Everything,” or V2X, technology.
V2X refers to technology embedded in automobiles that enables cars to communicate with any entity that may affect it, including other cars, road sensors and pedestrians. It is considered a core technology to improve the safety of connected cars and self-driving vehicles.
The three companies plan to research on autonomous driving methods that exchange information between roads and vehicles by using mobile networks.
To this end, Korea Expressway Corp. plans to offer SKT its solutions for managing Korea’s roads and highways and integrated traffic information systems, while the ETRI will provide the core chip sets and solutions needed in developing the V2X technology. SK Telecom also plans to make use of its existing Internet of Things technology (IoT) platform solutions for vehicles and next-generation mobile network technologies.