SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM) and Seoul Metropolitan Government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop and verify HD Map technologies for autonomous driving. The MOU signing ceremony took place today at SK Telecom’s headquarters located in Seoul.

Under the MOU, SK Telecom and Seoul Metropolitan Government will cooperate for the development of real-time update technology for HD Map covering a total of 121 kilometers of public roads, which were designated by Seoul’s Cooperative-Intelligent Transport System (C-ITS) project*, by installing 5G Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) to 1,600 buses and 100 taxis. The two parties also agreed to jointly develop an automated road infrastructure management system as well as advanced transportation safety services based on big data analytics.

* C-ITS is a project led by the Seoul Metropolitan Government to build an intelligent transportation system infrastructure such as 5G network and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) system on major roads of Seoul. In January 2019, SK Telecom has been awarded the project to deploy 5G infrastructure and technologies in the area.

With the application of SK Telecom’s 5G technologies, Seoul will become the first city in the world to use 5G to drive innovations in the area of public transportation.

A total of 1,700 units of 5G ADAS installed in buses and taxis will collect 124 different types of road/traffic information and transmit the data via 5G network - which supports ultra-fast transmission of massive data at near zero latency - to support real-time update of the HD map.

5G ADAS, installed in public transportation vehicles, will support vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication to increase efficiency in vehicle and traffic operation and enhance road safety. For instance, while the existing buses only provide location information using GPS, buses equipped with 5G ADAS will be able to communicate with diverse objects on roads, including other vehicles (vehicle-to-vehicle, V2V) and infrastructure (vehicle-to-infrastructure, V2I).

Furthermore, SK Telecom and Seoul Metropolitan Government will also join forces to create an autonomous driving ecosystem by opening up related infrastructure such as HD map and data collected by 5G ADAS.

“The super-fast, hyper-connectivity 5G network is essential as a tremendous amount data is constantly generated by connected vehicles,” said Choi Il-gyu, Executive Vice President and Head of B2B Business Division of SK Telecom. “SK Telecom will work closely with the Seoul Metropolitan Government to turn Seoul into ‘5G Smart Mobility Hub’ by applying the most innovative 5G technologies.”