Photos: South Korean capital launches self-driving bus experiment

Experiment aims to make public feel more comfortable with driverless vehicles on the roads

Last updated: November 25, 2022 | 13:42

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Seoul: South Korea's capital launched its first self-driving bus route on Friday, part of an experiment which engineers said aims to make people feel more comfortable with driverless vehicles on the roads.

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The new vehicle does not look like a regular bus and has rounded edges along with large windows that make it appear more like a toy than a technological breakthrough.

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This design is intentional, said Jeong Seong-gyun, head of autonomous driving at 42dot, the start-up responsible for the self-driving technology that is now owned by auto giant Hyundai.

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"This is the future," he told AFP, adding that the bus required "a considerable new type of design". The bus looks a bit "like Lego" and is made of composite parts to help keep costs down and make it easy to replicate, he said.

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It uses cameras and lasers to navigate the way instead of expensive sensors, Seong-gyun added.

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The company's goal was to make the technology low-cost, safe and easily transferable to many types of vehicle in the future, for example delivery trucks.

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For now - with a safety driver monitoring closely - the bus will drive itself around a small 3.4-kilometre (2.1-mile) circuit in downtown Seoul that takes around 20 minutes.

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The public can board at two designated stops after booking a free seat through an app.

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A designated stop for the country's first self-driving bus route.

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Pedestrians stop to look at an information display at a designated stop for the country's first self-driving bus route run by 42 Dot.

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