Plans to introduce eco-friendly autonomous electric buses
Demonstration to be conducted until the third quarter of next year
Discovery of business models that can be linked to smart cities in the future


LG Uplus announced on the 11th that it will launch a full-scale 'autonomous bus' business in cooperation with domestic and foreign specialized companies such as Bluespace, Woojin Industrial Systems, and Metroplus.

The four companies signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for business cooperation at Woojin Sanjeon's Ochang plant in North Chungcheong Province and agreed to establish detailed plans, including the formation and operation of a working-level consultative group.

The first business model under this agreement is a self-driving "electric bus." It will integrate LG Uplus' V2X technology and Bluespace's autonomous driving technology, centered around Woojin Industrial Systems' eco-friendly electric buses. V2X, short for Vehicle to Everything, is a communications-based technology that enables vehicles and objects (such as other vehicles, mobile devices, and transportation infrastructure) to exchange information.

U+ provides safety-enhancing solutions that are key to autonomous driving, such as dynamic precision maps and high-precision positioning, along with 5G and LTE communication networks. A control system will also be established to remotely check the operation status of autonomous buses.

Bluespace, a self-driving startup founded in Silicon Valley last April, provides autonomous driving software that enables accurate perception of the surrounding environment. Metroplus is responsible for implementing an integrated system that interfaces electric buses with each solution.

Following the agreement, the four companies plan to begin joint development and testing, with demonstrations of autonomous buses expected by the third quarter of next year. Furthermore, they plan to pool their capabilities to identify potential business models based on autonomous buses, such as smart cities, and secure related technologies.

LG Uplus’s Executive Vice President and Head of the Corporate New Business Group, Won-seok Cho, said, “Through this business collaboration, we expect to significantly strengthen our competitiveness in autonomous driving by bringing together the technological prowess of leading companies in each field at home and abroad.” He added, “We will continue to develop our safety-enhancing solutions so that you can use ‘autonomous’ public transportation with confidence.”