South Korea is set to become the first country
in the world to launch 5G services for all
local customers.
Ahead of that landmark occasion,... service
providers are showcasing how the super-fast
mobile network can be used to advance driverless
car technology.
Oh Soo-young provides a glimpse of the not
so distant future.
Driving in 5G has become a reality on the
streets of Seoul.
On Monday, A1, a driverless car developed
by Hanyang University, successfully drove
8 kilometers in eastern Seoul,... using the
next generation 5G mobile network.
It's the first time in the world that a self-driving
vehicle has used 5G to drive on public roads
among human drivers.
Powered by mobile carrier LG U Plus, the vehicle
was able to switch lanes, swerve around obstacles
and stream live footage of its journey without
any bugs or delays.
"Current LTE systems make it difficult to
pinpoint the exact location of the car due
to delays of around 600 milliseconds.
5G can reduce this margin of error to within
30 milliseconds.
This revolutionary speed is expected to contribute
greatly to the development of driverless vehicles.
LG U Plus and Hanyang University's Ace Lab
also plan to add 5G-based entertainment including
VR and AR content to create a multidimensional
travel experience.
Using 5G's high-speed connectivity and the
ultra-low latency, other network carriers
are also showcasing the technology.
KT Corporation earlier this year test drove
a 10-seater, 5G-equipped bus in the heart
of the Korean capital.
Each of the bus's seats comes with a VR headset,
so passengers can find themselves among the
cheering crowd at a baseball stadium,... a
K-Pop concert, or at an amusement park with
a virtual date.
"Once driverless cars start hitting the road,
passengers will have more time on their hands.
So there will be a huge demand for infotainment
content using 5G to process massive amounts
of data in ultra high speed."
"Given Korea's plentiful bandwidth and infrastructure
to enable 5G-based driving,... it's no longer
just a question of technological viability.
As driverless cars get closer to commercialization
by the day... service providers are now racing
to create optimized media content and services
to win over customers
Oh Soo-young, Arirang News."
