Kia Soul Autonomous Driving Demo

Watch a demonstration of an autonomous Kia Soul EV tackling a variety of everyday driving circumstances.

Kia Launching Drive Wise Sub-Brand

If there were a theme to this year’s automotive-related CES news, “autonomous driving technology” would certainly headline.

Not to be left out, Kia has announced an all-new sub-brand focused entirely on these driver assistance systems of the future dubbed “Drive Wise.” Its efforts will fit with recent news that the Korean automaker plans to release a partially autonomous vehicle by 2020 and a fully autonomous one a decade later.

In the brand’s own words, “Drive Wise will enable Kia to introduce intelligent safety technologies to its future model range, helping to eliminate potential dangers — and, for many, the boredom — of driving, while changing the ways in which owners interact with their vehicles.”

To an enthusiast, “boredom” is a pretty harsh way of labeling driving, but in reality, there are numerous times when even the most avid do-it-yourself driver wouldn’t mind putting things in auto pilot.

At CES, Kia’s exhibit gives visitors a chance to experience some ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) for themselves. Among the technologies available to sample are Highway Autonomous Driving (HAD), which keeps a vehicle in its lane or passes other vehicles; Urban Autonomous Driving (UAD), which lets the vehicle navigate city streets using live traffic updates; Preceding Vehicle Following (PVF), which is basically adaptive cruise control; Emergency Stop System (ESS), which monitors a driver’s attention and brings the car to a stop if the driver takes their eyes off the road for too long; Traffic Jam Assist (TJA), which is like low-speed adaptive cruise control; and Autonomous Valet Parking (AVP), which lets a driver exit before the car parks itself.

Related: Kia Is Granted A License To Test Self-Driving Cars In Nevada

Kia also displayed an iteration of its Kia Human Machine Interface (HMI) functions, including gesture control, fingerprint sensors and smart-device connectivity.

“Kia is undergoing a very promising and gradual process of introducing partially and fully autonomous technologies to its vehicles,” remarked Tae-Won Lim, senior vice president, Central Advanced Research and Engineering Institute of Hyundai Motor Group (boy, what a title). “Although the first marketable fully-autonomous car from Kia will not be available in the immediate future, the work our R&D teams are currently doing to develop our range of Drive Wise technologies is already improving on-road safety and driver assistance. The innovations presented at this year’s show demonstrate the future direction we are taking.”

The automaker will invest $2 billion by 2018 to stay on its 2020 and 2030 targets. To help test the tech. before it gets to production, the state of Nevada has granted Kia a licence to test the new systems on public roads via Kia’s specially equipped Soul EV models.

Kia Launches Drive Wise Autonomous Car Sub-Brand

Kia announced at the 2016 CES in Las Vegas, its launch of the new Drive Wise sub-brand for autonomous driving technologies.

As we already know, Kia set a goal of partially-autonomous driving by 2020, and fully-autonomous by 2030.

According to Henry Bzeih (Chief Technology Strategist at KIA North America), the main force behind autonomous driving is increasing safety of driving.

The automation of driving will be implemented in steps – the first step includes:

1. Highway Autonomous Driving (HAD) employs a combination of radar and camera detection systems to interpret lane markings, allowing the car to stay in its lane or switch into others to overtake other vehicles or follow a different road; all without driver input.
2. Urban Autonomous Driving (UAD) applies GPS and sensors to identify the car’s position on the road, allowing it to safely navigate through densely-congested city environments while responding to live traffic updates.
3. Preceding Vehicle Following (PVF) is an enhanced lane-keeping system which monitors the vehicle in front and allows the car to calculate its own path relative to it, following at a safe distance if road markings are indecipherable due to poor conditions or road layout.
4. Emergency Stop System (ESS) operates in correlation with Kia’s Driver Status Monitoring (DSM) system, to analyse the driver’s face, ensuring their attention does not stray from the road for too long. If it detects that the driver takes their eyes from the road for too long, ESS can automatically direct the car into an appropriate side lane and come to a halt.
5. Traffic Jam Assist (TJA) monitors the vehicle in front during congested traffic conditions, maintaining a safe distance from the vehicle in front and moving into appropriate spaces to gain ground.
6. Autonomous Valet Parking allows drivers to exit the car and let the vehicle park itself remotely, activated using the smart key or a smartwatch.