AI Driving Competition

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What would be the result of a driving competition between human drivers and artificial intelligence behind the wheel? In our next story, it’s another classic case of man vs. machine. Let's find out the result and more.

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[Soundbite] "Three, two, one, go!"

A car race began with a resounding starting signal. The car on the left is driven by a human driver, while nobody is behind the wheel of the car on the right. But it's running with warning lights and the horn on. It is a self-driving car. It successfully avoids obstacles and passes through an angled course. The human driver has won the race. However, the self-driving car, which reached the destination by only relying on a GPS system, demonstrated excellent driving skills.

[Soundbite] Park Ji-hye(Gyeonggi-do Prov. Resident) : "It was O.K. until the s-shaped course. So I doubted that the self-driving car could make it at the more difficult square-shaped course."

[Soundbite] "It drives automatically with automatic steering and speed control."

It runs at a steady speed and speeds up when there are no cars ahead. It can also make a great U-turn. However, Korea's self-driving cars are at their nascent stage, compared to those developed by global leaders, such as Google. Korea is taking the lead in the communications sector. But the sensor and artificial intelligence technologies are pivotal.

[Soundbite] Dr. Kim Jae-hwan(Seoul National University Advanced Institute of Convergence Technology) : "Few domestically produced sensors are used in self-driving cars. They nearly depend on imported ones. Big gaps remain in the sensor technology."

The goal is to upgrade self-driving technology from the current level of driving on highways to running on urban roads within two years. It is necessary to advance self-driving technologies and resolve problems shown in the race, like crashes into obstacles. But other tasks include the establishment of related infrastructure, such as roads.