It’s only Level 3 automation, though, so it still required a human to oversee everything.
Hyundai is hard at work on its own solution for autonomous vehicles, but it’s not limiting itself to passenger cars.
Hyundai announced Wednesday that it has completed the first autonomous truck trip in South Korea. A Hyundai Xcient semitruck successfully completed a 40-kilometer (about 25-mile) journey from Uiwang to Incheon, dragging a trailer full of cargo all the while.
The truck was equipped with SAE Level 3 autonomy, which means it’s fully capable of accelerating, braking and steering its own way down the highway. Unlike higher levels of automation, however, Level 3 still requires a human to act as the final fallback in case the system cannot handle a situation, and of course, Hyundai had a human in the driver’s seat at the ready.
“This successful demonstration proves that innovative autonomous driving technology can be used to transform the trade logistics industry,” said Maik Ziegler, Hyundai’s director of commercial-vehicle R&D, in a statement.
