Kyungil University (President Chung Hyun-Tae) introduced its largest booth and best self-driving car technology among regional universities at ‘Daegu International Future Automobile Expo 2019’(DIFA 2019), which is being held at the Daegu Exhibition and Convention Center from Oct. 17 to 20.

‘DIFA 2019’ is a co-hosted event by Daegu Metropolitan City and Korean Academy of Automotive Engineering, where 271 companies and universities from 26 countries are participating in various exhibitions, including vehicle exhibitions of self-driving cars, electric vehicles, and parts exhibitions for smart car and advanced driver assistance systems. KIU set up the largest booth among the regional universities, displaying the ultra-small electric self-driving car with a nation’s first temporary license and the self-driving shuttle bus currently under development. It also showed off its best technology by offering virtual reality services to directly experience the self-driving environment for visitors.

KIU established a self-driving vehicle convergence technology research institute last year to play the role of a leading self-driving car college, and acquired a temporary license from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for the self-driving 3 level based on ultra-small electric vehicles in that year. It is the fifth among Korean universities (Seoul National University-Hanyang University-KAIST-Yonsei University) and it is the nation’s first for the two-seat ultra-small electric vehicle. Currently, the ultra-small electric vehicle is gradually approaching the level 4 automation stage while the self-driving shuttle bus is under research and development with the aim of self-driving a 5km round trip from the campus to Hayang three-way intersection via Kyungildae three-way intersection by adding a city-style self-driving function. To that end, KIU is promoting various industry-university collaboration activities by establishing a cooperative system with self-driving vehicle convergence technology research institute and the family companies of industry-university cooperation group based on the support from LINC+ business group, and linking self-driving technology with specialized and continuous education, practical field practice, and overseas programs for global competence for the undergraduate students in the related department.

Also, the self-driving vehicle technology is being introduced at the booth of KIU by the HANJOONG NCS and AUTUNOMOUS A2Z CO.,LTD., which is a company founded by a professor of KIU, and has the core capabilities of self-driving technology. In particular, the Lidar Sensor which AUTUNOMOUS A2Z CO.,LTD. led the development and was installed in a side mirror of a self-driving car, is well-received for their technology that can remove blind spots and remedy their shortcomings of self-driving cars that are vulnerable after bad weather.

President Chung Hyun-Tae attended the opening ceremony of DIFA 2019 on 17th (Thur), and toured the exhibition hall with the participating guests to encourage officials. President Chung said, “With the participation in the exhibition, KIU will become a leading university to lead the region's future industry, including the self-driving car sector, and to systematically train professionals.