Self-driving cars are of great interest to researchers and technology enthusiasts in South Korea. Due to the high interest, the country is building a new test facility for autonomous vehicles, which will be the largest in the world. Information reveals the project goes by the name of K-City, and should be ready for testing purposes in October of 2017.
K-City Will Propel Autonomous Vehicle Testing To New Heights
It is evident South Korea acknowledges a bright future lies ahead for self-driving vehicles. By building out their K-City test circuit, the country helps to make an impact in this particular industry over the coming years. A portion of the circuit will be opened for testing in October of this year, which is quite an ambitious goal. The rest of this new facility should be ready in the first half of 2018.
Building such a massive structure would not be possible without support from the government. South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transpiration is behind this project. They also provide the majority of funding, as this facility comes with a 9 million Euro price tag. Various South Korean companies have already shown an interest in the project, and are looking to make use of the facility once it is ready.
Among the entities looking to give this facility a try are Samsung, SK Telecom, Hyundai and Kia. It is expected more companies will show an interest in K-City over the coming months. For now, it remains unclear if it will only be opened to companies located in South Korea, although that seems very likely. It is not impossible to think we will see similar facilities pop up all over the world.
It is interesting to note the entire K-City facility is built using the intelligent transportation system. This particular system is developed by the South Korean Ministry of Transportation Security. It is a collection of systems which are also used on local highways, to spread out traffic and improve safety for all drivers. In the event of K-City, the system will be used to provide a realistic testing environment, where anything can happen.
This news comes at an interesting time for South Korea. Local sources indicated the country wants to provide fully autonomous cars by 2020. In order to do so, test facilities like K-City will be direly needed. Additionally, the current plan is to build these vehicles, yet still allow drivers to take over control in emergency situations.
It is evident autonomous vehicles are the future, although there is still a lot of work to be done. Testing facilities such as K-City will play an integral part in the future of self-driving vehicle development. It will be interesting to see what we can expect from this project over the coming years. Self-driving cars are a hot industry right now, that much is evident.
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