Self-driving startup 42dot unveils driverless shuttle

South Korea's autonomous transportation startup 42dot, owned by Hyundai Motor Group, on Monday unveiled a driverless electric shuttle installed with a demand responsive transit (DRT) system.

The autonomous shuttle, dubbed aDRT, is a purpose-built vehicle (PBV), or an eco-friendly multi-purpose mobility vehicle.

It was built for driverless public transportation from the design stage, unlike a conventional self-driving vehicle installed with an autonomous driving kit, the company said.

The eight-seat PBV not only drives rotating routes, but also plans optimized routes depending on demand to improve user convenience.

42dot CEO Song Chang-hyun said that the shuttle is the first of its autonomous vehicle series designed to provide DRT services. It can accommodate up to seven passengers, as well as one seat for the safety guard, and drive up to 300 kilometers on a single charge.

It comes with 12 high-resolution cameras and six radars required for self-driving.

To design the aDRT shuttle, it teamed up with Hyundai Motor. It took a total of 13 months to design, manufacture, receive temporary permission for autonomous driving and conduct performance tests on the purpose-built vehicle. 

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.