If you haven’t figured it out be now, autonomous driving will be the next big thing in the following years, with more and more car makers trying to bring this innovative technology in mainstream car manufacturing. In fact, Kia is the latest company to announce its future plans regarding driverless… driving.
Like all the major players in this particular field, the Korean car manufacturer also aims to create full autonomous vehicles sooner or later. More specifically, by 2030 Kia plans to introduce self-driving automobiles to market, with vehicle-to-vehicle communication in development. But until then, the company wants to launch a range of partially-autonomous driving technologies to its model line-up by 2020.
After an initial investment of US$2 billion by 2018, Kia will be able to develop the first of its new Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) technologies, which will lead to the introduction of the next-gen Smart Vehicles, as Tae-Won Lim, Vice President, Central Advanced Research and Engineering Institute of Hyundai Motor Group, commented:
“Fully-autonomous vehicles are still some way off, and a great deal of research and rigorous product testing will need to be carried out to make the ‘self-driving car’ a reality. Kia is still in the early stages of developing its own technologies, and we are confident that the latest innovations – both partially and fully autonomous – will ultimately make driving safer for everyone.”
The ADAS System will be developed with other suppliers and affiliated companies, and it will comprise three distinct categories to enable vehicles to drive by themselves, including “Recognition” – the development of new sensors to detect other vehicles and hazards, read the road ahead and identify poor driving conditions; “Judgement” – advanced computing systems allowing the car to make decisions based on the information gathered by ADAS sensors; “Control” – active electronic and mechanical systems allowing the vehicle to carry out the decisions taken by the autonomous technology in any given situation.
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