Vueron gets autonomous driving permit with lidar technology

Vueron Technology Co., a South Korean lidar perception software startup, said on Tuesday a self-driving vehicle made a successful run on an expressway using only a lidar sensor it developed after getting a government permit.

The company said obtaining an autonomous driving license for a car that relies solely on a lidar sensor is the world’s first such case.

Lidar sensors detect and track vehicles, pedestrians and other obstructions to help autonomous vehicles safely navigate at various speeds. Lidar measures distance by illuminating the target with laser light, a key element in autonomous driving.

Vueron said the self-driving car, equipped with only one lidar sensor capable of identifying all objects around the sensor, ran 414 kilometers on an expressway from Seoul to the southern port city of Busan at a maximum speed of 100 km per hour last month.

For safety reasons, a driver was on board but did not hold the steering wheel for the full five hours, it said.

“Autonomous driving usually requires not only a lidar but also other sensors such as cameras, radar and a GPS system. But we have safely completed a drive with only a lidar sensor,” said a company official.

The company said its technology proved the safety of automated driving maneuvers, including lane keeping, lane changing and collision avoidance through hard braking.

“We will increase the number of our partners in Korea and abroad and hire more engineers to further upgrade our technology,” said Chief Executive Kim Jae-kwang.

Vueron Technology is a startup established in 2020 by engineers from the state-run Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).

Specialized in developing a lidar perception software applicable to advanced driver assistant (ADAS) and autonomous driving systems, the company has attracted investments from Naver Corp.’s venture incubator D2SF and venture accelerator and capital firm BonAngels.

Write to Joo-Wan Kim at kjwan@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.