SK Telecom has been working with a number of partners including LG Electronics
Korean telecommunications operator SK Telecom has announced the completion of a successful trial of a self-driving vehicle in public as part of the telco’s efforts in the autonomous and connected vehicle segment.
During the test run, SK Telecom’s self-driving car traveled 26 kilometers in real world traffic conditions at a speed of up to 80 kilometers per hour.
The vehicle demonstration took place on the Gyeongbu Expressway, the most heavily travelled expressway in Korea, and the vehicle traveled approximately 26 kilometers at a speed of up to 80 kilometers per hour (50km/h on average). The telco explained that the car’s software has been designed to not exceed that speed in accordance to the government regulation on test-driving of autonomous vehicles.
In July 2017, SK Telecom has received a license from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for testing its autonomous driving car on local roads. SK Telecom’s Vehicle Tech Lab has been working closely with diverse partners, including a team from the Seoul National University and LG Electronics, to develop self-driving technologies such as artificial intelligence computer, sensors, communication and route determination/tracing.
“Following the successful test-driving of our autonomous vehicle on an expressway, we will continue to test our self-driving cars on downtown roads, national highways and motorways,” said Park Jin-hyo, senior vice president and head of network R&D center of SK Telecom. “Furthermore, we will connect self-driving vehicles to our 5G trial networks to advance technologies that can significantly enhance driving safety via IoT and real-time communication with the control tower.”
SK Telecom ended the second quarter of the year with a total of 30 million subscribers. Mobile subscribers totaled 22.4 million at the end of June, up 5.2% year-on-year.
In the LTE segment, the telco ended the period with 22.07 million subscribers and an overall LTE penetration of 73.6%.
