South Korea: In a first, self-driving bus trial begins in Seoul

South Korea's capital, Seoul launched its first self-driving bus route on Friday as part of an experiment that engineers explained aims to make people adjust better to driverless vehicles on the roads.The new vehicle looks nothing like a regular bus. It has rounded edges along with giganticwindows that make it appear more like a toy bus than a technological innovation. As perJeong Seong-gyun,head of autonomous driving at 42dot,the start-up responsible for self-driving technology, the shape of the bus is intentionally such to make it more people-friendly. This self-driving technology is now owned by auto giant Hyundai.

"This is the future," he told AFP, adding that the bus required "a considerable new type of design".

The bus looks a bit "like Lego" and is made of composite parts to help keep costs down and make it easy to replicate, he said.

The new vehicle does not look like a regular bus and has rounded edges along with large windows that make it appear more like a toy than a technological breakthrough. Photo credits: AFP

Seong-gyun noted that instead of costly sensors, it uses cameras and lasers to navigate its route.

The objective of the company was to make the technology affordable, secure, and easily adaptable to numerous types of vehicles in the future, such as delivery trucks.

For the time being, the bus will autonomously navigate a brief 3.4-kilometre (2.1-mile) circle in central Seoul under the tight supervision of a safety driver. The trip takes around 20 minutes.

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Additionally, the general public may board at two pre-determined stops after reserving a complimentary seat via an app.

(With inputs from agencies)

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