Using a smartphone to call over a self-driving c ar and traveling to your destination without getting behind the wheel is no longer a scene from science fiction movies.
Park Se-young has more.
When this carpooling commuter selects a car from a smartphone app, a self-driving car shortly arrives at the caller's location.
Current law requires a backup driver to be present in the vehicle, but he does not control the wheel.
SK Telecom and Korea's Transport Ministry have trialed self-driving cars that can answer customers' calls.
The cars pick up riders in the order of calls and take them to their destinations.
Once that's done, the cars head to their next call or automatically return to a nearby parking lot.
System reforms for self-driving cars and car-sharing services are needed before the technology can be commercialized.
"A lot of things need to be done before self-driving cars are commercialized. One of them is 5G connectivity. Transportation and communication have to be linked, and insurance and self-driving technologies have to evolve."
Because both self-driving cars and car-sharing services are run on communication networks, measures to prevent hacking are also important.
Park Se-young, Arirang News.
