Hyundai Kia Motors Develops 'ICT Connected Transmission System'... Shifts Gears According to Road Conditions

Automatically Shifting Gears by Detecting Road and Traffic Conditions... World's First

Hyundai Kia Motors has developed the world's first forward-looking 'ICT Connected Transmission System' that automatically shifts gears according to road and traffic conditions. (Photo by Hyundai Kia Motors)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] Hyundai Kia Motors has developed the world's first forward-looking ICT connected transmission system that automatically shifts gears according to road and traffic conditions. Hyundai Kia plans to apply this technology to new vehicles to be released in the future.

On the 20th, Hyundai Kia announced that it has succeeded in developing an ICT connected transmission system that allows the vehicle to independently recognize the shape of the road ahead and traffic conditions and shift to the optimal gear. Existing models allowed changing the shift mode according to the driver's preference but did not reflect road and traffic conditions.

This new system operates on the principle of controlling the transmission by integrating signals sent from ICT devices such as 3D navigation equipped with a three-dimensional precision map of the road, cameras, and radars for smart cruise control through intelligent software. It transmits information such as ▲road elevation and curvature, road type, and unexpected situations from the 3D navigation ▲distance between vehicles and relative speed of other vehicles from the front radar ▲lane and visual information from the front camera to the Transmission Control Unit (TCU). The TCU receiving these signals predicts the optimal shifting scenario suitable for real-time driving conditions through an artificial intelligence algorithm and changes the transmission gear accordingly. Approximately 40 core patents were filed domestically and internationally during the system development process.

According to Hyundai Kia, tests conducted on actual roads with vehicles equipped with this system showed that the frequency of gear shifts during cornering decreased by about 43% compared to existing vehicles. The frequency of brake operation also decreased by about 11%, resulting in reduced driving fatigue.

Hyundai Kia Motors has developed the world's first forward-looking 'ICT Connected Transmission System' that automatically shifts gears according to road and traffic conditions. (Photo by Hyundai Kia Motors)

In cases where rapid acceleration is required to enter the highway, the driving mode automatically switched to sports mode at the highway merging point and automatically reverted to the previous mode after entry. Driving feel was improved as the transmission was adjusted by detecting the distance to the vehicle ahead through the front radar.

In particular, this new technology is said to align with the era of autonomous driving by preparing the vehicle in an optimal state by preemptively recognizing road conditions unknown to the driver. Hyundai Kia plans to enable the ICT connected transmission system to communicate with traffic lights based on LTE or 5G communication and to further develop it into a more intelligent transmission technology.

Jeon Byung-wook, Research Fellow at Hyundai Kia Motors' Intelligent Drive Control Research Lab, said, "Cars are evolving beyond simple means of transportation into smart mobility," adding, "Traditional automotive fields such as powertrains are also establishing themselves as advanced technologies optimized for smart mobility through efforts to integrate ICT and artificial intelligence technologies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.