Speaking at a global autonomous driving conference held yesterday, Lee Jin-woo, the head of Hyundai Motor’s Intelligent Safety Technology Center revealed the company’s all-out efforts to further ensure the safety of drivers. (Image: Kobiz Media)
SEOUL, May 17 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor is planning to include active safety technology in all of its compact car models, a company official said yesterday.
Speaking at a global autonomous driving conference held yesterday, Lee Jin-woo, the head of Hyundai Motor’s Intelligent Safety Technology Center revealed the company’s all-out efforts to further ensure the safety of drivers.
“We consider active safety as one of the most important technologies in autonomous driving. As safety should not be a privilege for the few, we plan to expand autonomous active safety to not only luxury cars but also low-end and compact vehicles,” Lee said.
Active safety technology refers to a number of features including autonomous emergency braking systems (AEB), lane keeping assist systems (LAKS) and advanced smart cruise control systems (ASCC), all of which are partially considered to be autonomous driving.
The company’s AEB system was first featured in the 2013 model of the Hyundai Genesis, with a gradual expansion of the technology to other models over time including the Grandeur and Sonata last year.
The AEB system was also adopted in the latest iteration of KIA’s Morning compact car.
When pressed on the possibility of other possible features that could be introduced in compact car models in the future, Lee responded, “Though we have developed new features for each model, we can’t disclose them yet.”
Lee’s response fell short of details when reporters asked whether Hyundai’s very first compact SUV, the KONA, would come with the AEB feature, as he refused to answer the question.
While Lee revealed a vision to develop affordable and autonomous cars for everyone using inexpensive radar sensors, giving the company cost competitiveness over rivals such as Google, Uber and Ford, the head of the Intelligent Safety Technology Center said Hyundai is ready to work with other business partners as autonomous driving still remains uncharted territory for industry players.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
