"Snuber" taxi traverses Seoul University campus in autonomous mode

Published: January 06, 2016 | Seoul

Seoul University is testing a sedan that can pick up and transport passengers without a human driver, giving a glimpse into the future of autonomous public transport. The vehicle, called Snuber, has been navigating the 44,200 square foot (4,109 square metre) campus for the past six months without any accidents. 

It works in conjunction with a hailing app created by the university that has been compared to Uber. Something similar has been done by Japanese Robot Taxi few months back. 

Seo Seung-Woo, director of the Intelligent Vehicle IT Research Center at Seoul National University, said the university has been testing the driverless taxi to transport disabled students around campus. 

The sedan has a turret on its roof with devices that scan road conditions. The team also fitted the Genesis model with a camera, laser scanners and other sensors.

The car can’t travel faster than 18.6mph (30km/h) because of the speed limit on campus.  There are no full traffic lights but researchers have programmed Snuber to navigate around other challenges. For example, the vehicle applies a brake pedal at a red stop sign and at a pedestrian crosswalk. 

When another vehicle stops in the middle of the road, the automated sedan will scan the other lanes to detect vehicles travelling from the opposite direction. If there are no other vehicles, the Snuber moves into the oncoming lane to pass the vehicle.

However, it is not yet ready for use outside the relatively controlled campus environment. He said in early 2020, a driverless car will be running between toll-gates on highways. 

Source: Daily Mail