Autonomous driving car to trial-run at Yeouido late May

Autonomous driving car to trial-run at Yeouido late May. May. 01, 2017 07:26. by Jae-Young Kim redfoot@donga.com.

Starting as early as late May, the autonomous driving vehicle "SNUBer" developed by the Seoul National University (SNU) will go for a test drive at Yeouido, Seoul. The trial run will be the first test for an autonomous driving car to run at the actual urban roads where skyscrapers are densely located.

According to the university and the National Geographic Information Institute, the SNU Auto IT R&D Center will test its self-driving car around Yeouido in late May. Until now, the car has been running only within the university's Gwanak campus.

The test-drive at an urban area such as Yeouido has been available thanks to a precise 21-kilometer high-precision road map provided by the geographic institute. The map is a three-dimensional electronic map, which displays facilities including lanes, bollards, tunnels and road signs including signal lamps.

The high-precision road map currently covers 471 kilometers of areas. The institute plans to expand the coverage to 870 kilometers by establishing additional road information on Gyeongbu and Yeongdong Expressways, along with Pangyo Zero City and Happiness City to provide better accessibility during the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.