In order to increase autonomous driving technology from Level 3 (partial autonomous driving) to Level 4 (conditional fully autonomous driving), it is important to develop technology in addition to the hardware and software parts of the vehicle.
In the software sector, the vehicle makes a priority judgment on autonomous driving and moves. In certain situations, driver intervention is required, but steady research and development is needed to more safely monitor the surrounding environment to actively and preemptively collect and respond to other vehicles or traffic signal systems.
In addition, along with such software research and development, vehicle manufacturing, which is a hardware part, must be manufactured according to certain safety standards. Some say that sensors necessary for autonomous driving are configured strongly regardless of weather, produce the best sensor convergence results, and that vehicle manufacturers should take some responsibility in case of an accident, so safety standards and performance standards should be prepared.
In particular, when the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport prepares related safety standards, it must have corresponding technologies. The developed autonomous driving technology should be tested in a limited environment and responded while having all the elemental technologies necessary for Level 4 and having certification procedures from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
On the road, it is necessary to pass with other vehicles, and research and development and demonstration are needed to ensure safety so that people can get along with each other in downtown and residential areas. Social attention and acceptance are also needed so that corresponding laws and systems, insurance systems, transportation infrastructure, and related accident prevention technologies are all equipped.
In response, the government has started to secure driving safety by developing hardware and software technologies for level 4 self-driving vehicles through the “Development of Safety Evaluation Technology in Response to Driving and Collision” project launched as part of the innovation project. The research project was conducted by the Korea Automobile Safety Research Institute, which is working as a certification body for autonomous driving by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and is working together to carry out preemptive goals and technology development for Level 4.
To respond to level 4 that allows the vehicle system to control all safety situations, it is required to maximize the detection performance of the surrounding environment to implement the vehicle maintenance function to develop technologies related to the minimum safety distance between surrounding vehicles and vehicles.
In addition, software technology will be developed based on the goals discussed and shared in this research project on elemental technologies and necessary technologies to achieve unnecessary driving in certain driving areas. It aims at software that enables driving without driver intervention in case of an emergency.
In addition, before testing these technologies on the road, K-City, a road inspection area of the Korea Automobile Safety Institute, is additionally developing dummy robots that simulate vehicles or people for smooth pre-testing to demonstrate technology advancement.
In this project, Under-Solution Co., Ltd., which is carrying out such technology development, has been providing hardware control technology (longitudinal, lateral) to enable unmanned driving for universities and research institutes. In addition, it has identified and responded to all elemental technologies for hardware and software through the experience of attaching various sensors to general vehicles and renovating vehicles to enable autonomous driving.
In particular, it has become a leading domestic company that applied both hardware and software to develop autonomous driving technology by manufacturing the “Withers Shuttle,” a driverless vehicle introduced at the Seoul Motor Show in 2019. Based on this, various autonomous robots are also being developed, and through this research project, development is being carried out with the aim of upgrading hardware and software technologies in level 4.
Unmand Solution CEO Kang Chan-ho (photo) said, “Unmand Solution is developing autonomous driving in accordance with the market need for consideration for the transportation vulnerable,” adding, “In mountainous or island areas, buses that use public transportation are expected to go to hospitals.”
Currently, Undemand Solution plans to provide short-distance autonomous driving services in urban areas where transportation vulnerable groups move comfortably or public transportation is weak. In addition, various service robots that can reduce human labor through self-driving delivery robots are being researched and developed.
In response, Undemand Solution plans to focus on various research and development so that it can create and operate autonomous vehicles useful for humans in short-distance sections with the goal of last mile service. Furthermore, it is expected to lead the global mobility market as the only autonomous driving solution company in Korea that has both autonomous driving-related hardware and software technologies.