Power Wheels Magazine A Notch Above
Kia Motors just launched the new sub-brand, ‘DRIVE WISE’ for future Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). DRIVE WISE is Kia’s philosophy to come out with intelligent, safe vehicles featuring Kia’s ADAS technologies in the future. Kia plans to have partially-autonomous cars ready by 2020, and its goal is to have its first fully-autonomous vehicle available by 2030.
Kia debuted DRIVE WISE technologies, currently under development, at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) which is happening in Las Vegas, January 6-9. Mainly to improve road safety, DRIVE WISE technologies lets Kia introduce intelligent safety features to future models.
Kia is showcasing the progression of its autonomous driving technologies, from those already available to advanced features undergoing development over the next 15 years under DRIVE WISE. Kia’s exhibit gives visitors the chance to experience a host of next-gen technologies and concepts with interactive displays.
“Kia is undergoing a very promising and gradual process of introducing partially and fully autonomous technologies to its vehicles. Although the first marketable fully-autonomous car from Kia will not be available in the immediate future, the work our R&D teams are currently doing to develop our range of DRIVE WISE technologies is already improving on-road safety and driver assistance. The innovations presented at this year’s show demonstrate the future direction we are taking.” said Tae-Won Lim, Senior Vice President, Central Advanced Research and Engineering Institute of Hyundai Motor Group
DRIVE WISE technologies on display at CES 2016:
- Highway Autonomous Driving (HAD) employs a combination of radar and camera detection systems to interpret lane markings, allowing the car to stay in its lane or switch into others to overtake other vehicles or follow a different road; all without driver input.
- Urban Autonomous Driving (UAD) applies GPS and sensors to identify the car’s position on the road, allowing it to safely navigate through densely-congested city environments while responding to live traffic updates.
- Preceding Vehicle Following (PVF) is an enhanced lane-keeping system which monitors the vehicle in front and allows the car to calculate its own path relative to it, following at a safe distance if road markings are indecipherable due to poor conditions or road layout.
- Emergency Stop System (ESS) operates in correlation with Kia’s Driver Status Monitoring (DSM) system, to analyse the driver’s face, ensuring their attention does not stray from the road for too long. If it detects that the driver takes their eyes from the road for too long, ESS can automatically direct the car into an appropriate side lane and come to a halt.
- Traffic Jam Assist (TJA) monitors the vehicle in front during congested traffic conditions, maintaining a safe distance from the vehicle in front and moving into appropriate spaces to gain ground.
- Autonomous Valet Parking allows drivers to exit the car and let the vehicle park itself remotely, activated using the smart key or a smartwatch.
DRIVE WISE technologies will allow communication and interaction between the driver and vehicle with new Human Machine Interface (HMI) functions, such as gesture control, fingerprint sensors and smart-device connectivity. Drivers’ gestures are recognized by the I-Cockpit if they want to change any setting in the cabin, without taking their eyes off the road ahead.
Kia will spend a total of US$2 billion by 2018, to fast track the development of its DRIVE WISE technologies. Nevada granted Kia a special license to test their new technologies on its public roads. The all-electric SOUL EV was selected test bed for development of the DRIVE WISE technologies.
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