One Step Ahead of the Game

Jeon Hong-bum, director of the Infrastructure Research at KT, is making a presentation on the 5G autonomous driving platform at the '2018 1st Future Forum' held at KT Building in Seoul on April 18.
Jeon Hong-bum, director of the Infrastructure Research at KT, is making a presentation on the 5G autonomous driving platform at the '2018 1st Future Forum' held at KT Building in Seoul on April 18.

KT has discloed an ambitious plan to develop an autonomous driving platform using its 5G technology. The company is seeking to position itself favorably in the burgeoning self-driving market ahead of its rivals using its 5G infrastructure and an intelligent control system.

On April 18, KT announced that the telecom giant will develop 5G as a Vehicle Platform (5GaaVP) based on innovative 5G technology. It unveiled its blueprint in the 2018 1st Future Forum held at its building in Gwanghwamun, Seoul.

The 5G autonomous navigation platform is based on four core technologies -- 5G infrastructure, 5G-V2X (vehicle-to-vehicle communication) technology, precision positioning, and an intelligent control system.

KT believes that the autonomous drive market will begin to bloom in 2020. According to market research agency Navigant Research, about 75% of vehicles on roads will be replaced by autonomous vehicles in 2035. If 50% of vehicles are replaced by autonomous driving vehicles, its economic effects are expected to hit about 250 trillion won globally.

Until now, however, autonomous drive vehicles have been operated only by self-sensing ability through various sensors. This fact makes autonomous drive vehicles poor at responding to unpredictable situations. When 5G autonomous driving technology is applied, vehicles are connected to other vehicles and transportation infrastructure, enhancing autonomous drive vehicles’ ability to deal with dangerous situations a great deal.

The core of the KT autonomous navigation platform is 5G infrastructure. 5G has a delay time of only one 1,000th of a second in communication between vehicles and transportation infrastructure, so that 5G can enable autonomous drive vehicles to cope with dangerous situations quickly.

KT will build a nationwide network in the 3.5GHz band with wide radio wave coverage, and additionally utilize the 28GHz band with a high transmission speed in urban areas. The company will also provide stable network services via current LTE networks in areas where 5G is not yet established.

5G Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication utilizes network slice (virtual split network) technology. KT is planning to support stable communication by providing a dedicated virtual network for vehicles through this technology.

KT decided to develop precise positioning technology to accurately pinpoint the current position of a vehicle and provide the technology in a platform form. KT explained that the precise positioning technology would empower autonomous driving vehicles to distinguish driving lanes, thereby making stable vehicle control possible.

Moreover, KT plans to provide intelligent control services using big data based on its autonomous navigation platform. The intelligent control system control traffic signals by collecting vehicle positions and sensor information in real time, analyzing them incontrol servers and predicting situations.

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