On August 21, Hyundai Motor Company completed South Korea's first domestic highway journey with an autonomously navigated semi-trailer truck.

Hyundai showcased its “innovative technological advancement in future mobility” when its Xcient truck drove approximately 40 kilometers on the highway between Uiwang and Incheon while carrying a large semi-trailer simulating cargo transportation.

“This successful demonstration proves that innovative autonomous driving technology can be used to transform the trade logistics industry,” says Maik Ziegler, Ph.D., Director of Commercial Vehicle R&D Strategy Group at Hyundai Motor Company.

“At this stage, a human driver is still used to control the vehicle manually in certain situations, but I think we will achieve level 4 automation soon as we are constantly upgrading our technological capability.”

Capable of holding a maximum load capacity of 40 tons, Hyundai's Xcient model truck was semi-equipped with a Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) standard Level 3 autonomous driving system, allowing it to do several things without human input, including steer, accelerate or decelerate, and maneuver through traffic. A human driver was on-board to take over manual control when required. 

Also equipped with a variety of innovative technology features, the vehicle was able to, among several things, maintain and change lanes during the natural flow of traffic, and perform a complete halt or accelerate according to road traffic.

​The demonstration was possible thanks to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) issuing a temporary autonomous driving license for the first time to a heavy-duty truck.

In cooperation with its trade subsidiary Hyundai Glovis, Hyundai Motor used this demonstration as a chance to test the application of autonomous driving for use in the trade logistics industry, as the test route is Hyundai Glovis's parts transportation most frequently traveled section for vehicles heading to the Port of Incheon.

The truck successfully completed the journey, as it traveled 40 kilometers in one hour, all while abiding strictly to the expressway speed limit of 90 kilometers per hour.

Hyundai Motor plans to conduct more autonomous navigation technology tests in the future in different areas such as Busan. The company also plans on concentrating its enterprise development capabilities with the aim of early commercialization of the technology.