Naver to develop high-precision map for auto driving in Seoul

Naver Labs, an R&D subsidiary of South Korea’s largest internet portal and search engine Naver, revealed on Tuesday the “A-city” roadmap for the commercialization of autonomous driving. A-city is a name coined by Naver, which is a new city environment where various types of machines move around by themselves like self-driving robots to create a new kind of connection.

“The explosive increase of high-performance sensors and AI robots is breaking down the wall between the physical space and the virtual space,” Naver Labs CEO Seok Sang-ok said at the Naver meet-up event held at the Seoul Dragon City in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. “Various information services of Naver that are only available online via computers or smartphones at the moment will expand to all corners of people’s lives,” he added.

"We will build intelligent self-driving machines that can be transformed according to the surrounding environment by integrating all the spaces of cities, including indoor spaces, roads, and sidewalks, into high-precision map data,” CEO Seok said on what Naver is planning to do to achieve its A-city vision proposed as a concrete model to expand the internet company’s services. “The technology was showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show early this year. We will develop relevant world-leading technologies.”

Naver Labs also released the current development status of prior technologies for the development of A-city. According to the company, the key to creating an urban self-driving environment where a lot of shadow areas are found when relying on GPS signals is the highly-detailed production and quick updates of HD maps. “Naver Labs currently has all technologies that are needed for the full realization of level 4 self-driving technology in accordance with the U.S. Society of Automotive Engineer,” said Baek Jong-yoon, leader of the autonomous driving group at Naver Labs. “We are planning to develop a highly-precise map of over 2,000 kilometers of major four-lane roads in Seoul by the end of the year.”


Jae-Hyeng Kim monami@donga.com