KT announced on the 17th that it was the only telecommunications company to participate in the 'Autonomous Vehicle National Experience Event' hosted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, held from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on Yeongdong-daero in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 17th.

The Autonomous Vehicle National Experience Event is a follow-up event to the 'Land and Transport Technology Expo' held on the 6th, and was organized to provide the public with opportunities to experience autonomous driving technology, enhance awareness of the technology and recognition of the necessity for its adoption, and to lead successful commercialization of autonomous vehicles in 2020.

A KT autonomous driving bus driver takes a commemorative photo with both hands free while driving on Yeongdong-daero.

A total of seven autonomous vehicles participated in the event, and KT provided a 45-passenger autonomous driving bus with a vehicle length of 12m and width of 2.5m. This vehicle is the first large bus to receive autonomous operation approval. In addition to basic vehicle sensors such as Lidar, 'precision positioning' technology that corrects GPS location information and 'V2X (Vehicle-to-everything)', a vehicle communication technology, have been implemented.

KT demonstrated 'cooperative autonomous driving' at the Autonomous Vehicle National Experience Event. Cooperative autonomous driving is a core autonomous driving technology in which a vehicle receives external traffic information such as traffic signals and locations of surrounding vehicles via V2X, enabling the vehicle itself to recognize risk factors.

The KT autonomous driving bus sequentially picked up Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport officials and 75 participants who applied to participate in the Autonomous Vehicle National Experience Event, and during a 1.5 km section drive on Yeongdong-daero, demonstrated the use of cooperative autonomous driving technology to perfectly avoid interfering vehicles cutting in and pre-installed obstacles, and to receive various traffic signal information in real-time.

Additionally, KT demonstrated vehicle infotainment services to passengers on the KT autonomous driving bus, including 'multi-channel streaming service' allowing simultaneous viewing of over 100 channels and 'augmented reality (AR) games'. When autonomous driving becomes commercialized, it is expected that drivers will be able to freely enjoy a variety of services inside the vehicle.

Kim Hyung-wook, Director of KT's Platform Business Planning Office, said, "KT has steadily built up autonomous driving capabilities, and in particular, has experience successfully implementing autonomous driving using 5G technology at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. Based on this know-how, KT plans to do its best to show interest in and lead changes in the quality of life of the people as a national company," he added.