Hyundai has successfully tested Level 4 autonomous vehicles in South Korea, the company said in a press release on 5 February. The company tested five vehicles, including three next-generation NEXO fuel cell electric SUVs and two Genesis G80 premium sedans, which completed 190 kilometers journey from Seoul to Pyeongchang.
The vehicles were equipped with multiple cameras and Lidar sensors, which enabled them to better understand their surroundings and navigate safely in self-driving mode. The vehicles also featured 5G network technology from KT Corporation. By pressing ‘Cruise’ and ‘Set’ buttons on their steering wheel, Hyundai said the demonstration vehicle would immediately switch into self-driving mode. During the testing, the demo vehicles moved in the natural flow of traffic once they came on the highway. The vehicles efficiently executed lane exchanges and overtaking maneuvers and navigated gates using ‘Hi-pass’ wireless expressway payment system.
Significance: Hyundai said the test marks the first time Level 4 autonomous driving was realized in fuel cell EVs. The South Korea automaker unveiled its next-generation NEXO fuel cell EV (FCEV) at the CES 2018 in Las Vegas, last month. The new FCEV offers a driving range of 590 kilometers and takes only five minutes to refuel. Until now, Hyundai said, autonomous driving tests were conducted at a limited speed on some section of Korean roads. However, this was the first time autonomous test vehicles covered such long distance at 100–110 kilometers per hour. Hyundai is working on commercialization of Level 4 autonomous vehicles in smart cities by 2021. In order to meet this goal, last month the Korean automaker teamed up with US-based self-driving start-up Aurora Innovation. Hyundai aims to commercialize fully autonomous driving (Level 5) by 2030.
