Started self-driving business of 1 trillion won “Level 4 commercialization in 2027”

With the goal of commercializing a level 4 level fully autonomous vehicle by 2027, a total of KRW 1 trillion in autonomous driving business will begin in earnest.

Four ministries, including the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the Ministry of Science and ICT, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the National Police Agency, announced on the 14th that they will announce a new task in 2021 for the’Autonomous Driving Technology Development Innovation Project’.

This project is jointly promoted by four ministries to leap to the No. 1 country in the future car field, one of the big three (system semiconductor, bio health, and future cars). Total project cost of 1.97 trillion won will be invested from this year to 2027.

Currently, autonomous driving technology is at Level 2 level that assists the driver’s driving, and Level 3 autonomous vehicles capable of conditional autonomous driving (requires driver intervention in case of an emergency) in the driving range are expected to be released within the next 1-2 years.

Level 4, the next step, is a level where the vehicle itself recognizes and judges the situation so that the driver’s intervention is unnecessary even in an emergency. To get to this stage, innovative changes are required not only in vehicles and parts, but also in information and communication technology (ICT) and road traffic.

The government aims to complete the foundation of’Convergence Level 4 Fully Autonomous Driving’, which encompasses vehicle driving, transportation infrastructure, and services by 2027 ▲ New Vehicle Convergence Technology ▲ New ICT Convergence Technology ▲ New Road Traffic Convergence Technology ▲ Service Creation ▲ Ecosystem Construction, etc. 5 It supports 84 sub-tasks in major fields.

First of all, the development of autonomous driving computing technology, cognitive prediction sensing technology, precision positioning technology, and autonomous driving-passenger interaction technology, which are the core technologies of Level 4 autonomous vehicles, will be promoted.

This year, the company plans to first initiate 15 tasks (18.2 billion won), including core cognitive sensor modules, artificial intelligence (AI)-based high-performance computing technology, and autonomous vehicle platform.

Through this, the goal is to increase the level of autonomous vehicle driving technology from 82% in 2018 to more than 93% in the future.

In addition, in order to enhance the safety of autonomous driving and enhance intelligence, it will develop a 3-tier autonomous driving structure that links the high-performance cloud server and edge computing of the transportation infrastructure, and vehicle communication (V2X) that connects the inside and outside of the vehicle.

Among these, 13 tasks (21 billion won), including autonomous driving recognition, judgment, and control AI software (SW) technology, and autonomous driving learning data collection and processing technology, are among the tasks to be launched this year.

Regarding the new technology for convergence of road traffic, 11 tasks (20.2 billion won), such as a digital road and traffic infrastructure convergence platform and advanced technology for awareness of road conditions, will be promoted this year.

At the same time, it will develop various services related to autonomous driving such as mobility support for the traffic weak, real-time demand response autonomous public transportation service, and autonomous driving shared vehicle (car sharing) service (this year’s project cost 8.3 billion won).

It is also planning to build an autonomous driving ecosystem (this year’s project cost 17.4 billion won), such as developing a global standard system and test standards, developing safety evaluation technology for collision situations, and developing an autonomous driving traffic accident analysis system.

In order to increase the possibility of commercialization of this project, the four ministries decided to plan a demand-linked project requiring the participation of demanding companies (automobile manufacturers or core parts companies).

When selecting and evaluating the project, the number of points allocated for commercialization and economic feasibility will be increased from 30 points to 40 points, and the submission of the commercialization history of the implementing agency will be mandatory.

In addition, it applies the’moving target system’ that can flexibly change the target of the project and operates a consultative body with companies that require autonomous driving.

The results of the ICT field are provided in an open SW method so that startups, companies, and academia can freely use them. The developed autonomous driving service will be demonstrated through urban-scale living labs (Laboratory in Living) from 2023.

The submission period for this project is February 1-17 (planned), and detailed assignment proposals (RFPs) can be found on the website of the Korea Industrial Technology Evaluation and Management Agency, Information and Communication Planning and Evaluation Agency, National Land, Transportation Science and Technology Promotion Agency, and the National Police Agency.

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