Hyundai Mobis and its partners Korea Telecom (KT) and Hyundai MnSOFT have successfully demonstrated 5G Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) communications between autonomous test vehicles (AVs) at the company’s Seosan Proving Ground in South Korea.
Hyundai Mobis and KT have been cooperating closely with each other since they formed a technical alliance for connected cars last year. The two companies entered into an MOU for jointly developing ‘5G-based connected car technology’ last August, and KT had built the 5G infrastructure for the technology’s development at the Seosan Proving Ground by the end of last year. Hyundai Mobis began to work in earnest with the Hyundai MnSOFT software development division on the first project in January, which included development of the real-time navigation update technology and the mobile communication-based C-V2X technology, and has since been creating related technologies.
Hyundai Mobis developed the technology for collecting live traffic information through the sensors fitted to the company’s M.Billy autonomous driving test vehicles, and extracting core information that affects driving and transmitting it to the central server. KT supported the connection between the 5G terminals installed in M.Billy and 5G communication base stations, and Hyundai MnSOFT modified and updated the map based on the received information in real-time. The real-time navigation update technology reflects the real-world traffic information, which preceding vehicles collect and send to the server, in the map in real-time and delivers it to following vehicles. The C-V2X technology uses the 5G mobile communication network to share vast amounts of data with vehicles, infrastructure, other cars and pedestrians in real-time, and enhances the safety of autonomous driving.
The use of 5G and C-V2X are considered to be essential technologies for securing safety in the future age of fully autonomous driving in which the system takes complete control of driving and inter-vehicle communications. At Seosan, Hyundai Mobis and KT used the two technologies to demonstrate five scenarios: real-time precise map updates; avoiding construction zones; preventing collision in case the vehicle, which is two cars ahead, makes a sudden stop; emergency situation 5G video streaming; and perceiving pedestrians. These scenarios are representative cases of the connected car technology, proposed by the USA’s Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), which match the levels of technology with global standards.
“Through synergy with KT which has the world-best 5G communication technology, we were able to secure a high level of technology in a short period of time,” said Chang Jae-ho, SVP and head of the Hyundai Mobis electrical and electronics R&D division. “We will enhance the reliability of connected car technology and realize the age of safe future cars without the risk of accidents by further reinforcing the cooperation between the two companies.”
Jeong Yoon-sik, executive vice president of KT’s enterprise customer business unit, said, “While developing this technology with Hyundai Mobis as an R&D partner, we could verify the competitiveness of its autonomous driving sensor and control technology once again. We will lead the coming age of future cars by expanding our collaboration, including providing contents for autonomous vehicles to the entire connected car ecosystem.”
