April 27, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Motor said on Aug. 23 that it has successfully tested a trailer truck that utilizes the latest autonomous driving technology, a move aimed at securing a new growth engine for the company.

Earlier in the week, the Korean carmaker tested the Level 3 autonomous driving technology on the 40-ton Xcient truck on a 40-kilometer track of motorway that included tunnels, Hyundai said in a statement. 

The Level 3, which is called HDA3 by Hyundai, allows lane changes and other driving functions to work without intervention by the driver. But the driver is required to control the car in case of emergencies.

“It will take some time for semi-autonomous trucks to be commercialized as there are many things to be developed and improved in terms of technologies,” a company official said over the phone.

Among others, there should be laws and regulations involving semi-autonomous commercial vehicles, such as trucks, he pointed out.

Hyundai Mobis, an auto parts affiliate of Hyundai Motor Group, has developed Level 2, or HDA2, technology that allows the vehicle to initiate a lane change on the highway, as well as exit and join highways, if the driver turns on the lane change light.

It aims to start commercializing the HDA2 technology in 2019.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)