An autonomous vehicle which runs without driver`s operation was the first in Korea to successfully test drive on the city`s public roads.

SNUver, an autonomous vehicle developed by Seoul National University`s Center for Intelligent Vehicle IT Research Center (center professor Seo Seung-woo), run around 15 minutes from 1:30 pm on June 22. The vehicle has conducted successful run while recognizing traffic signals. This is the first time that the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs conducted an autonomous vehicle test in an actual city center after allowing autonomous vehicle tests on most public roads in November last year. On the same day, SNUver showed its ability to drive smoothly on a public road, about 5 kilometers away, where an unexpected situation could occur.

Although, there were two passengers in the SNUver, they did not use a wheel while just watching the situation ahead on the road. It took only 0.1 seconds to find out the situation in front of the vehicle and to provide information inside the vehicle. This is thanks to the fact that the level of Korean autonomous vehicle has recently grown to a considerable level.

The research center led by Professor Seo Seung-woo has developed the SNUver in 2015 and tested it only at Gwanak campus of Seoul National University due to legal regulation. With more than 20,000 kilometers of distance, the SNUver has evolved into the 3rd generation version, and its recognition along with driving performance has been strengthened more than the second generation released in November last year. The recognition and judgment performance of vehicles, pedestrians, lanes, traffic lights, signs, etc., which are indispensable for autonomous vehicle on high-traffic and complex roads, has been improved. It is stable enough to be able to run in a variety of general urban road environment including high-rise buildings, roads, narrow-ways, tunnels, and construction sections.

In particular, it is equipped with high-precision three-dimensional map, moving object detection and tracking, and collision risk avoidance technology. The vehicle is stable in the traffic with high traffic volume and complicated urban roads. It is also stable even in highway building line and tunnel where GPS signal is unstable. Also, unlike the previous version, which applies expensive single sensor, it has increased the possibility of commercialization by increasing the reliability of driving judgment by lowering the cost by installing several low cost sensors. Professor Seo is expected to stabilize driving performance by continuing the SNUver test run in Yeouido until the end of this year. In addition, Professor plans to verify whether current traffic infrastructure and regulations are suitable for autonomous vehicle based on data collected during autonomous driving. It is scheduled to launch a test drive for the public in November. Professor Seo stated, "The stage of testing on autonomous roads such as K-City and Pangyo is now over. There is a limit to not being able to recognize traffic lights that are about 100m away from ordinary roads. We will be able to make autonomous driving in any part of Seoul after the upgrade.”

By Park Sang Gil sweatsk@


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