Hyundai RoboShuttle

2021: Start of minibus service without drivers

In mid-July 2021, Hyundai Motor launched a driver-less minibus service in South Korea. An unmanned vehicle will move along a given route in the smart city of Sejon. Passengers will be able to pay for the trip through the Shucle smartphone app by choosing one of 20 stops. Subsequently, services will be expanded to other areas.

The first unmanned vehicle in the RoboShuttle service will be the Hyundai H350 light four-door van (known as Solati in Korea, Malaysia and Vietnam), developed at the Hyundai Motor Unmanned Driving Center. The van got permission to temporary operation of technologies of pilotless driving 3 levels from the Ministry of the earth, infrastructure and transportayuzhny Korea.

Hyundai launches minibus service without drivers

The unmanned van assesses the environment, makes decisions and controls traffic on the road, requiring only minimal intervention from the driver, who mainly provides safety. The vehicle will run on a 6.1 km route from the government complex of Sejong to the National Arboretum of Sejong with 20 stops along the way.

In anticipation of the July 12 test launch, the company signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Sejong City Transportation Corporation to ensure the smooth operation of the pilot program. The program will also work in collaboration with the Shucle mobile passenger service launched by AIRS Company, a specialized artificial intelligence research laboratory run by Hyundai Motor Group.

Shucle is the first travel service using algorithms to determine the optimal route depending on demand. It is expected that this service will make South Korean public transport more efficient, since the vehicle will stop only at boarding and boarding points that were previously selected by passengers through the application.^[1]

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