Unpopulated K-City built for AV testing

A city with no residents called K-City has been completed in South Korea for autonomous vehicle (AV) testing based on next-generation 5G mobile networks.

It’s among a number of such cities springing up around the world, including in the US and Japan, for driverless vehicle testing.

About US$11 million has been invested by South Korea’s land, infrastructure and transport ministry to build the 320,000sqm K-City at the Korea Transportation Safety Authority in Hwaseong, about 80 minutes drive southwest of Seoul.

Five main AV testing environments are included – highway, downtown road, suburban street, parking lot and community facilities.

The 5G networks will allow companies, universities and research institutes to test a variety of connected car services in those different environments, the ministry says.

In March 2018, 188 companies including Hyundai Motor Group, Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Telecom Co., set up a consultation committee for AV development and are expected to test vehicles, products and connected technologies in a range of different driving conditions, the Yonhap News Agency

reports.

These include pedestrian crossings, tunnels, train crossings, dummy cyclists and more simulating real-life road conditions.