Kia Motors has passed its self-driving test to be licensed by the state of Nevada to test autonomous driving on public roads in the state. Nevada requires all self-driving vehicles to take a driving test. We expect to see self-driving Kias and or Hyundais at CES. Mercedes-Benz also was was tested for Nevada self-driving licenses.
According to documents requested by IEEE Spectrum, Daimler is also trying to license the 2017 Mercedes-Benz E200 and E300. Hyundai requested autonomous vehicle testing licenses for two Tucson fuel cell electric vehicles and two Kia Soul EVs. It looks like Kia/Hyundai has passed the test because Kia announced it now has licenses to test autonomous cars in Nevada.
On 19 November, Jude Hurin, from Nevada DMV’s autonomous vehicle program, took an E-class Mercedes for a test drive on three highways north of Las Vegas. The car completed highway and freeway turns, adjusted its speed in according to roadside signs, did “a great job” in congested traffic and was able to change lanes.
On a racetrack and local highway DMW tests were performed on Hyundai fuel-cell Tucsons and Kia Souls.
Kia plans to introduce a range of partially-autonomous driving technologies by 2020, and with a goal of being first fully-autonomous by 2030. The company will invest $2 billion by 2018. Kia is focusing R&D resources on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to- infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication.
Kia is planning to introduce a range of partially-autonomous ADAS technologies in the coming years, with an array of new functions anticipated for introduction to market by 2020. These include Traffic Jam Assist (TJA), Highway Autonomous Driving (HAD), Urban Autonomous Driving (UAD), Emergency Stop System (ESS), and Autonomous Valet Parking technologies.At all times, the new range of ADAS technologies can be turned over direct driver contro.