Naver to create HD map for autonomous driving in Seoul

Naver Labs CEO Seok Sang-ok speaks during a media conference at Seoul Dragon City, Tuesday. / Courtesy of Naver

By Jun Ji-hye

Naver will create a high-definition (HD) map of the major roads in Seoul within the year, gearing up for the commercialization of its autonomous driving technologies and the realization of a future smart city that the company has called “A-CITY,” Naver said Tuesday.

Presenting its three-year plan, Naver Labs CEO Seok Sang-ok said various types of machines will move by themselves in A-CITY and create new methods of connection, while artificial intelligence and robots will collect, analyze and predict the data of spaces.

Naver Labs is an R&D subsidiary of the nation's dominant internet portal and search engine operator.

“To achieve our goal, we will create seamless 3D, HD spatial data integrating all the spaces of cities such as roads and sidewalks, and develop an autonomous and intelligent machine platform that can be transformed according to place, environment and purpose,” Seok said during a media conference in Seoul. “We will add natural human-machine interaction technologies to offer information and services to users.”

Naver Labs said an HD map is the brain of self-driving machines, stressing the need to create and update it at the earliest possible opportunity.

The company has focused its efforts on developing an automated algorithm powered by deep learning and vision technologies to create HD maps more promptly, while developing a crowd-sourced mapping system to enable accurate updates.

Baek Jong-yoon, a leader of Naver Labs, said his firm plans to complete an HD map covering 2,000 kilometers of major roads in Seoul within the year.

“Such a map will be integrated with GPS, a wheel encoder, LiDAR and cameras, and will advance localization technologies,” Baek said.

He said his firm has secured its own technologies necessary to realize a level 4 autonomous driving system.

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) classifies the capabilities of autonomous vehicles ranging from level 0 to level 5.

A level 4 system does not require human intervention in most situations, though a human driving option remains.

Level 5 refers to a stage in which human driving is completely eliminated.

“We will continue to verify our technologies in a variety of situations,” he said.

Naver Labs stressed it will continue to carry out various projects with an aim of connecting all spaces to Naver, saying only companies that possess innovative technologies will survive in the future.