South Korea launched its first self-driving bus in its capital city, Seoul as a part of a new experiment. Here’s all you need to know about the new smart vehicle on South Korean roads.
All about the new self-driving bus
Seoul, South Korea’s capital launched the first self-driving bus on Friday, As per engineers involved in the project, the pilot route will help people better adjust to having driverless vehicles. For now, the bus is going to autonomously navigate a 20-minute long 2.1-mile circle in central Seoul. During the pilot, a safety driver will be tightly supervising the trip. The general public is allowed to board the vehicle at two pre-determined stops after booking a complementary seat through a mobile app.
The new vehicle looks very different from a regular bus. It comes with rounded edges and gigantic windows, giving it a toy bus-like appearance. According to Jeong Seong-gyun, 42dot, the startup responsible for the new technology intentionally made the design as it is more people-friendly. Seong-gyun is the head of autonomous driving at 42dot. The tech is now owned by Hyundai.
More about the new tech and design
“This is the future. It is also a considerably new type of design. The bus looks a bit “like Lego” and is made of composite parts to help keep costs down and make it easy to replicate,” stated Seong-gyun. Additionally, he stated that the self-driving bus uses cameras and lasers for navigating its route instead of costly censors. Moreover, with the self-driving bus, 42dot is aiming to make smart technology secure and affordable. Additionally, it also wants to ensure the tech is easy to adapt to various types of vehicles.
