"Preventing School Zone Traffic Accidents" T map Adds Child Protection Routes and More

[Asia Economy Reporter Seulgina Cho] SK Telecom announced on the 27th that it has released ‘T map version 8.1,’ which adds new features such as allowing users of T map, the largest navigation service in Korea, to select detour routes around school zones (Seukuljon).

The newly introduced ‘Child Protection Route’ is a feature that provides an option to choose a route that detours around school zones when navigating to a destination, considering the user’s driving satisfaction. However, if the destination is within the school zone and no detour route exists, or if the detour adds more than 10 minutes to the travel time causing greater inconvenience to the driver, the route will guide the driver to pass through the school zone at a slow speed for customer convenience.

SK Telecom developed the ‘Child Protection Route’ feature inspired by the recent enforcement of the ‘Min-sik Law,’ which strengthens traffic safety within school zones, and the rising social awareness of child traffic safety. It is expected that this will significantly reduce the risk of child traffic accidents by raising drivers’ safety awareness.

Previously, T map introduced a voice guidance service that requests child protection driving in a ‘child’s voice’ 300 meters before entering a school zone.

In addition to the ‘Child Protection Route’ feature, the new ‘T map version 8.1’ includes new functions to enhance driver convenience such as ▲Favorite Routes ▲Reporting feature.

The ‘Favorite Routes’ feature recommends and allows drivers to register a frequently driven route as a favorite if they drive the same route to a specific destination more than twice. It enables users to register frequently traveled routes like commuting paths and also select and register preferred routes from past driving history.

Furthermore, the ‘Reporting’ feature utilizes AI technology to make it easier for drivers to report real-time traffic congestion, road information, route guidance, and location information through ‘T map NUGU.’

Lee Jong-ho, head of SK Telecom’s Mobility Business Unit, said, “With this T map update, we expect a significant improvement in children’s traffic safety as well as driver satisfaction,” adding, “We will continue to strive to develop various features for safe and comfortable driving for drivers.”