KT and Hyundai Motor Company Join Hands to Develop 5G Self-Driving Cars

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KT and Hyundai Motor Company are joining hands to develop 5G self-driving cars. Not only will they work together for telecommunication between cars, analysis of Big Data, and technologies for connected cars, which are major technologies of self-driving cars, but they will also work together for intelligent road infrastructures.

As South Korea’s biggest telecommunication business and automotive manufacturer join hands, this will have significant amount of impact.

It seems that KT and Hyundai Motor Company signed off on a business agreement in order to co-develop technologies for 5G self-driving cars. At the latest, they will make announcement of their partnership during first quarter of 2017.

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Although there were times when telecommunication businesses joined hands with foreign automotive manufacturers for self-driving cars, this is the first time when a South Korean telecommunication business is joining hands with a South Korean automotive manufacturer.

With American press on site, Hyundai Motor Company had carried out a test drive of its self-driving car called IONIQ in cities of Las Vegas on the 15th (U.S. time) during daytime and nighttime. When a self-driving car is applied with telecommunication, smarter self-driving technology can be developed. Partnership between Hyundai Motor Company and KT is expected to have huge influence in all industries in South Korea.

“It is true that KT and Hyundai Motor Company signed off on a business agreement.” said multiple high-ranking officials. “Partnership between the two will be a huge help in making a progress towards self-driving cars.”

Two businesses have agreed to join hands for V2X (Vehicle to Everything) and technologies for connected cars that utilize 5G network and analysis of AI Big Data.

V2X is a technology that allows a vehicle to either communicate with a different vehicle (V2V) or an infrastructure (V2I) and receives help from a different vehicle or an infrastructure since self-driving is incomplete with a vehicle’s capabilities alone. When an accident occurs at the front, either a preceding vehicle or a traffic control center warns the car behind.

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Self-driving car that receives warning either slows down speed or stops without any intervention from a person. Accurate and fast telecommunication is a must since one’s life is at stake with self-driving technologies. 5G network is suitable for V2X since ultra-low latency of 1/1000 and ultra-fast telecommunication of 20Gbps are possible with this network.

These two businesses will also work together for contents that are represented as ‘connected cars’.

Since ultimate goal of self-driving cars is to have drivers not intervene with any kind of driving, they are planning to implement so-called ‘car infotainment’ for the time that is left over.


KT and Hyundai Motor Company are also going to work together to develop Big Data technology that analyzes huge amount of data that comes from self-driving cars and they have been developing a connected car system called ‘Blue Link’.

It is predicted that they will develop 5G self-driving technologies that will be used for demonstrative services which will happen during 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. KT is planning to operate self-driving shuttle buses that will be driving around stadiums.

It is heard that they are also talking about establishing self-driving infrastructures on the roads such as 2nd Yeongdong Expressway and others that are related to Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.

“Intersection where ICT (Information Communication Technology) and self-driving cars meet will be telecommunication.” said an expert in self-driving technology field on the 26th. “This will be an opportunity for self-driving technologies to develop one more step as 5G network provides intelligence that is difficult for vehicles to implement by themselves.”

Staff Reporter Kim, Yongju | [email protected]

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