Hyundai Motor autonomous bus to ply route at National Assembly

A Hyundai Motor driverless bus will operate at the National Assembly starting next year.

Officials from the National Assembly and Hyundai Motor, including President Kong Young-woon, sixth from left, and Lee Kwang-jae, seventh from left, secretary general of the National Assembly, take a photo with Hyundai's RoboShuttle Friday. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

A Hyundai Motor driverless bus will operate at the National Assembly starting next year.

Hyundai Motor and the National Assembly Secretariat signed the agreement Friday, with Lee Kwang-jae, secretary general of the National Assembly, and Hyundai Motor President Kong Young-woon, in attendance.

Under the agreement, the driverless bus will run on a 3.1-kilometer (1.9-mile) route connecting the visitor parking lot to locations near the National Assembly building in Yeouido, western Seoul. The operation will begin in the first half of next year, although details about the route have not been decided yet.

The driverless bus, which the company calls RoboShuttle, has Level 4 autonomy technology. A level 4 self-driving vehicle is able to operate on its own under ordinary conditions. Human intervention is rarely required. Level 3 technology requires the driver to be present at all times in case an intervention request is made. A level 5 vehicle can manage all scenarios on its own, which is not technologically possible yet.

The bus is based on Hyundai Motor's Solati four-door van.

The bus is controlled by passengers summoning them by a mobile app or using it to signal they want to get off.

"If we adopt the test run of driverless bus, it will encourage the enactment of laws that deregulate the industry and support the technology," Lee said. "National Assembly will become the free zone of the country's future industry."

National Assembly project will be the automaker's fourth test run of the technology after test runs in Sejong and Namyang last year.

Two RoboShuttles are currently running on Pangyo streets in Gyeonggi.

Hyundai Motor's RoboShuttle [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]