Standardizing Autonomous Driving Data

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy - Seoul, Gyeonggi, Daegu, Sejong - Hyundai Motor - Korea Standards Association MOU

Lee Seung-woo, President of the National Institute of Technology and Standards. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government, local governments, companies, and institutions have joined hands to promote services through the standardization of autonomous vehicle data.

On the 18th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy signed a business agreement for the development and utilization of autonomous vehicle data standards to form the 'Autonomous Vehicle Data Standard K-Alliance' at EL Tower in Seocho-gu, Seoul.

The agreement includes seven organizations: the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, four local governments operating autonomous driving demonstration complexes?Seoul, Gyeonggi-do, Daegu, and Sejong?and Hyundai Motor Company developing autonomous vehicles, along with the Korea Standards Association, a standard development cooperation organization.

Autonomous vehicle data refers to information data collected and utilized from infrastructure such as vehicles, roads, and traffic signals.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the standardization of autonomous vehicle data is considered a prerequisite to achieving the goal of 'partial commercialization of autonomous driving Level 4 by 2024,' which is one of the future vehicle expansion strategy objectives.

Standardization of data formats is essential for data exchange between vehicles and between vehicles and infrastructure. Standardization is also necessary to build a high-quality autonomous vehicle data dam and create a service industry ecosystem centered on companies.

Currently, local governments collect data by referring to U.S. group standards in autonomous vehicle demonstration projects and are developing various autonomous driving data services such as collision prevention, accident alerts, and congestion information alerts using this data.

However, group standards were developed for short-range communication ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems), so there are limitations in applying them to future autonomous vehicle services.

Ultimately, to ensure that the achievements of local government demonstration projects lead to nationwide autonomous driving services, it was judged urgent to establish national standards for autonomous vehicle data to secure compatibility, leading to the formation of the K-Alliance.

According to the agreement, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (National Institute of Technology and Standards) and the Korea Standards Association will operate the 'Autonomous Vehicle Data Standardization Committee,' composed of about 40 government, local government officials, and industry-academia-research experts, supporting data standard development, standard establishment, and dissemination.

Local governments will provide autonomous vehicle data collected from demonstration complexes, apply the developed national standards to demonstration projects, and secure data reliability through verification.

Hyundai Motor Company will propose data fields requiring standardization and utilize data provided by local government demonstration complexes for autonomous vehicle development.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to establish national standards for data classification, definition, and data representation formats by the first half of next year to secure data compatibility and actively compete to lead international standards with the U.S., Europe, and others.

Park Jin-kyu, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, said, "We have secured the golden time necessary to lead the autonomous vehicle market through solidarity and cooperation," adding, "We will support not only securing compatibility of data services but also the birth of various new businesses such as electronic components and insurance products."

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