Kia is the latest automaker to announce its plans for a fully-autonomous vehicle with the unveiling of the Drive Wise sub-brand at CES 2016.
The automaker is currently developing a number of advanced technologies under the Drive Wise name in its effort to reach its long term goal of having a completely driverless car on the market by 2030.
Before that happens, however, Drive Wise will launch a number of electronic driver aids and then a range of semi-autonomous systems.
Kia already offers adaptive cruise control and automatic braking and by 2020, its array of autonomous technologies will expand to include automatic parking, a driverless mode for the highway and a traffic jam assistant. Further down the road, there will be driverless systems suited to complicated urban environments.
Ultimately, the automaker will begin to develop and implement what it dubs “vehicle-to-object” (V2X) communications. Such technology will be combined with Light Detection And Ranging radars (LiDAR) and a number of external cameras and sensors that can accurately perceive surrounding areas just like a human. The program will also utilize vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) systems.
Testing of its autonomous vehicles will commence in Nevada, using a specially-equipped Soul EV.