In Compliance with International Standards

The Genesis G90 with Level 3 autonomous driving function.

Hyundai Motor Co. will limit the autonomous driving speed of the Genesis G90, a Level 3 self-driving car to be released within 2022, to 60 km per hour.

Hyundai Motor plans to release the G90 with Level 3 autonomous driving technology in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) in the United States divides autonomous driving levels into six stages from Level 0 to Level 5.  Up to Level 2, driver intervention is required, but in Level 3, driver intervention is minimized, with the driver taking the steering wheel only in an emergency. Level 3 or higher cars are classified as autonomous vehicles.

Currently, in Korea, the Level 3 autonomous driving speed is the speed limit of a road. This means that virtually there is no practical speed limit for Level 3 autonomous driving cars in Korea. According to regulations, Level 3 self-driving cars can drive up to 100 km/h, which is the general highway speed limit in Korea.

However, considering that the G90 is being developed for the global market, Hyundai Motor decided to limit the speed in Korea in accordance with international standards.

In March last year, the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations (UN/ECE/WP.29) under the United Nations prepared an international standard that limits the speed of Level 3 autonomous driving to 60 km per hour.

Korea had established Level 3 autonomous vehicle safety standards in December 2019 before the UN/ECE/WP.29 prepared the speed limit regulations. Although the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is pushing to revise domestic safety standards in line with international standards, it decided to maintain current standards on the speed of Level 3 autonomous vehicles.

The ministry explains that autonomous vehicles are not limited by speed restrictions, as they have a function that control distances from vehicles running ahead.

As the UN/ECE/WP.29 promotes measures to increase the speed limit for autonomous driving, international standards related to speed limits will be revised soon, experts expect.

After the launch of the G90, Hyundai Motor plans to increase speed limits for autonomous driving vehicles according to each country’s conditions. As it is already technically possible to increase speed limits for autonomous driving vehicles, the automaker plans to lift the speed limits through an over-the-air software update (OTA) in the future.

Mercedes-Benz and GM will also introduce Level 3 self-driving cars in Korea as early as next year. At the end of 2021, Mercedes-Benz launched an S-Class model loaded with Drive Pilot, a Level 3 autonomous driving technology, in Germany. GM also plans to apply Level 3 ultra cruise self-driving technology to Cadillac vehicles beginning from 2023.

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