Cooperation between C-ITS WG and finished vehicles is essential
In Korea, telecommunication companies play a role in spreading C-ITS technology.

C-ITS (Cooperative-Intelligent Transport Systems)
“A system that provides drivers with real-time information on surrounding traffic conditions, sudden stops, and accident risks such as falling objects while the vehicle is in motion.”

This year, the three domestic telecommunications companies have demonstrated 5G-based C-V2V (Cellular Vehicle to Vehicle) and C-V2X (Cellural Vehicle to Everything) technologies one after another and entered the self-driving car market.

This is expected to require an even higher level of technology as the C-ITS project currently led by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is scheduled to be completed in December of this year.

The C-ITS working group judged that it was difficult to ensure stable autonomous driving with only the self-driving vehicle's own equipment, and proposed V2V and V2I collaboration with automakers, but most of them were rejected. However, due to fatal accidents involving Tesla and other autonomous vehicles and hacking attempts in 2016 and 2018, experts are increasingly of the view that stable autonomous driving will be difficult with vehicle-only solutions.
Taking advantage of this atmosphere, large domestic telecommunications companies such as SK, KT, and LGU+ are actively participating in autonomous driving infrastructure projects for V2V and V2X, which seems to be rapidly accelerating the development of basic technologies for applying C-ITS.

Will C-ITS also contribute to 5G activation?
KT showcased its autonomous driving bus at the Sangam Autonomous Driving 5G Festival hosted by Seoul City and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in June, and is gearing up to dominate the market by taking sole charge of the Jeju Island C-ITS demonstration project.

The Jeju C-ITS demonstration project conducted in September of this year is a project to implement V2X based on 5G, and on this day, KT unveiled Vision GPS, a precision positioning technology based on lidar.
By installing this vision GPS on a 5G-V2X terminal, we have demonstrated see-through technology that transmits the image seen by the vehicle in front to the vehicle behind.

Additionally, we plan to complete the C-ITS demonstration project by the end of 2019 by providing it to 3,000 rental cars using GPS-RTK, a mobile positioning information system.

SKT also unveiled a 5G autonomous driving test in Sangam with the Seoul Metropolitan Government in June, and demonstrated 5G-V2X convergence autonomous driving technology. At the same time, it is opening facilities such as HD-MAP, a high-precision map platform for ultra-precision autonomous driving, and electric vehicle charging stations to the public 24 hours a day.

Currently, local government verification projects are being carried out in four locations, including Seoul, Ulsan, Gwangju, and Jeju, and each local government is building infrastructure for C-ITS testing.

LGU+ announced its 5G technology and autonomous driving demonstration project in Haeundae, Busan in July of this year.

In addition, it was announced that by 2021, it will establish a foundation for collecting and sharing autonomous driving data by building a dynamic precision map, control center, big data analysis, and monitoring center together with Sejong City.

In October of this year, a 2.5 km section of a regular road was driven for 15 minutes based on 5G-V2X at the LG Science Park in Magok, where the LGU+ headquarters is located. The autonomous driving demonstrated that day used LG Electronics' 5G-V2X communication terminal, and 5G-based mobile edge computing low-latency communication technology was also demonstrated.
The global trend toward implementing C-ITS-based autonomous vehicles
Korea has been promoting C-ITS since 2014, centered around the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and the pilot project will be completed in December of this year.

The C-ITS project, which was carried out with a total budget of 33 billion won, is a 87.8 km section connecting the Daejeon to Sejong City expressway, national road, and urban road, and is scheduled to be expanded nationwide after local government and expressway demonstration projects, making it urgent for the government and local governments to invest in building a nationwide next-generation transportation network. It is also necessary to establish a technology system for using DSRC (Wave) and C-V2X, which are currently mixed.

The United States and the United Kingdom are focusing on distributing terminals and infrastructure facilities to institutionalize C-ITS through legislation, and the United States has promoted a mandatory installation system for V2V communication devices, but it is currently on hold.

In the case of Europe, they are preparing to re-establish legislation by reversing the adoption of the DSRC method (ultra-high-speed short-range communication technology) and adopting the 5G-based C-V2X method.

There are also signs that the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), a system that evaluates new cars for V2X communication devices, will begin conducting safety assessments starting in 2025, so it seems that domestic and international industries' interest in C-ITS will continue for the time being.