5G Autonomous Driving Testbed at Seoul Sangam DMC
5G Transportation Technology Unveiled at Autonomous Driving Festival
Unveiled technology that predicts paths using advance vehicle footage

SK Telecom is unveiling a 5G autonomous driving testbed in Sangam Digital Media City (DMC) with the Seoul Metropolitan Government.
SK Telecom announced on the 20th that it will unveil the Sangam 5G autonomous driving testbed on the 22nd and demonstrate 5G and V2X convergence autonomous driving technology at the 'Sangam Autonomous Driving Festival'.

The Sangam 5G autonomous driving testbed is a core infrastructure for the Seoul Metropolitan Government's C-ITS (Next-Generation Intelligent Transportation System) demonstration project, for which SK Telecom was selected as the lead contractor in January.

The Sangam Testbed is equipped with 5G-based autonomous driving infrastructure, including 5G networks, smart roads (C-ITS), and control platforms, enabling test drives of autonomous and connected cars on public roads within DMC.

The autonomous driving industry assesses that the Sangam DMC area is the optimal location for urban autonomous driving tests, featuring various road types such as tunnels and roundabouts.

With the unveiling of the Sangam Testbed, a foundation has been laid to further advance autonomous driving technology by integrating 5G, C-ITS, and control platforms.

Driving that is difficult relying solely on vehicle sensors due to sensor errors, bad weather, etc. Even in such situations, safe autonomous driving is expected to become possible through 5G-based V2X (Vehicle to Everything) technologies, such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication.

Seoul City will accelerate the creation of an autonomous driving ecosystem by opening the Sangam Testbed to industry, academia, and research institutions 24 hours a day for free.

SK Telecom will also begin full-scale demonstration of 5G autonomous driving technology by operating autonomous buses circulating the Sangam DMC area starting in the second half of the year.

To commemorate the unveiling of the Sangam 5G autonomous driving testbed, a public experience event was also held. On the 22nd, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Seoul Metropolitan Government held the 'Sangam Autonomous Driving Festival' in the Sangam-dong area from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. under the theme of 'Future Transportation Connected by 5G'.

SK Telecom demonstrated 5G-based convergence autonomous driving technologies, such as front vehicle video transmission (See-through technology), pedestrian/signal response, and obstacle recognition/avoidance, using a 5G autonomous driving bus.

See-through technology is a technology that receives video information collected by a vehicle ahead in real time via a 5G network. Because it allows you to see through the situation ahead—such as road construction or traffic accidents—even if there is another car in front, it enables not only safe driving but also driving that looks several steps ahead.

Pedestrian/signal response is a technology that enables autonomous vehicles to simultaneously recognize traffic lights and pedestrians to decelerate or stop. SK Telecom has implemented autonomous driving that responds proactively using signal information received in advance via a 5G network, rather than autonomous driving that relies solely on sensors.

Obstacle recognition and avoidance are fundamental to autonomous driving, and it is a technology that detects obstacles on the road, such as stationary vehicles, and avoids them.

Yoo Young-sang, Head of MNO Business at SK Telecom, said, “The core infrastructure for the future transportation era, such as autonomous driving and connected cars, is not roads but 5G networks,” adding, “With the unveiling of this testbed, SK Telecom will achieve a ‘quantum jump’ in domestic autonomous driving research by integrating 5G and C-ITS.”

Meanwhile, SK Telecom agreed with the Seoul Metropolitan Government in May to demonstrate 5G ADAS using 1,700 city buses and taxis.