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Expanding Autonomous Mobility Services
November 30 2023
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Expanding Autonomous Mobility Services
The imperative to advance autonomous driving technology in the mobility sector
The development of autonomous driving technology in the mobility sector is becoming a critical factor in addressing contemporary transportation challenges, including traffic congestion, environmental concerns, and traffic accidents.
Safety stands out as the paramount factor.
It is widely acknowledged that a significant portion of traffic fatalities results from driver inattention or errors.
Therefore, autonomous driving technology holds the potential to mitigate accidents caused by human error, enhance traffic flow efficiency, increase convenience in commuting, and reduce environmental pollution.
ADAS and the journey to fully autonomous vehicles
ADAS encompasses various systems and technologies designed to enhance driver safety and alleviate the driving burden.
Examples include lane-keeping assist systems, warning drivers when the vehicle is about to drift and autonomously keeping the vehicle within its lane, or adaptive cruise control, maintaining a safe distance while adhering to a preset speed.
While ADAS does not replace the need for a driver, it eases the burden in scenarios like extended highway drives, contributing to a decline in accident rates.
These technologies also enable consumers to gradually acclimate to autonomous driving, fostering increased adoption and acceptance of autonomous vehicles.
As these ADAS features advance, a gradual progression toward automation is anticipated, ultimately leading to driverless driving.
Conditions/For a car with fully autonomous driving capabilities to be embraced by the public, the following conditions must be satisfied.
1. Sufficient reliability verification / 2. Flexibility in function assurance / 3. Adherence to purchase price requirements / 4. Streamlined repair and maintenance convenience
First. Ensuring Sufficient Reliability Verification
It is impractical to test every conceivable scenario during driving, making mass production and sale without verification challenging.
A substantial amount of driving data is essential to validate the safety of autonomous vehicles, making tests of this scale time-consuming and costly.
Second. Guaranteeing Flexibility in Functionality
Differences in road environments, traffic laws, and time periods necessitate the development and verification of distinct autonomous driving software.
Software functions must be adaptable to accommodate changes.
Failure to update the software may lead to violations of current road traffic laws, suggesting a potential need for institutional components enforcing software updates.
Third. Adhering to Purchase Price Requirements
Considering that individuals typically spend over 90% of their time with their cars parked, paying more than the cost of replacing 1-2 hours of daily driving for fully autonomous technology benefits seems unlikely.
If the cost of purchasing a fully autonomous feature on top of the existing vehicle is prohibitively high, consumers may choose to drive themselves instead of acquiring the feature.
Fourth. Enhancing Repair and Maintenance Convenience
As autonomous driving systems incorporate advanced electronics such as numerous sensors and computing devices, system complexity surpasses that of conventional vehicles.
Minimizing and maintaining such a complex system for ten years presents significant technical barriers.
This implies that both achieving full autonomy and the hardware and software implementing it must be exceptionally durable for acceptance and purchase by individuals.
To alleviate these constraints and expedite commercialization, applying autonomous driving technology to vehicles used in mobility services, instead of selling autonomous vehicles to the public, presents a viable option.
Given that mobility services maximize the utilization of a single vehicle for numerous customers, the cost per unit customer can be reduced, mitigating the high price of autonomous driving technology. / Reserve Now
Early Commercialization of Fully Autonomous Driving Technology
Costs can be efficiently distributed / Autonomous vehicles are easily subject to comprehensive reliability verification / Mobility services are predominantly operated in specific regions -> Numerous tests and reliability verifications are possible / Vehicles operating in mobility services undergo frequent inspections, allowing for early-stage diagnosis and prevention of potential failures.
This enables a mobility service provider to manage a large fleet simultaneously, maintaining a dedicated workforce for vehicle maintenance and repair.
Consequently, autonomous mobility service vehicles do not require extreme durability or extended maintenance intervals like private cars, making it relatively straightforward to develop and manage autonomous vehicles, facilitating early commercialization.
This system is anticipated to enhance the safety and operational efficiency of autonomous driving technology, effectively reduce costs, and bolster social acceptance.
* This Card News article was created by modifying and supplementing the Korea Institute of Transportation Research's Mobility Transition Brief Vol.2 No.2 'Expansion of Autonomous Driving-based Mobility Services'.