Self-driving car pilot begins in Daegu on 10.6 kilometer course

A consortium led by Autonomous a2z, a local mobility start-up, began a pilot test of a self-driving ride service on streets in Daegu, Tuesday.

A self-driving car used for a passenger service in Daegu [KAKAO MOBILITY]

A consortium led by Autonomous a2z, a local mobility start-up, began a pilot test of a self-driving ride service on streets in Daegu, Tuesday.

The free-of-charge service will run through 2023 in a limited area surrounding the Daegu Technopolis complex.

The consortium has six members: Autonomous a2z, Kakao Mobility, KT, Hyundai AutoEver, Neubility and Korea Automotive Technology Institute (Katech).

The service is part of a government-backed project organized by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The Autonomous a2z consortium was selected as the operator for the project in May.

The project started as a passenger service but will be extended to a logistics later, according to Kakao Mobility

The driverless cars in Daegu have 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.

Three self-driving cars began operation on 10.6 kilometers of roads in Daegu starting Tuesday, with a safety supervisor in the driver’s seat in case of emergency.

The consortium plans to deploy five more cars in the second year of the project, and the operational area will be extended to 28.2 kilometers roads.

Customers need to make a reservation through Kakao Mobility’s Kakao T taxi-hailing app to use the service.

Kakao Mobility built the service and the user platform for passengers and logistics. KT provided the onboard units for the cars and operates the transportation system, while Hyundai AutoEver built the infrastructure for the transportation system. Katech oversees the control system, and Neubility provides logistics robots to run a robot delivery service.

“The project is a new service model that integrates passenger and logistics services, and we expect this to be a step closer to market release of self-driving services,” said Chang Sung-wook, director of Kakao Mobility’s Next Mobility Labs.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]