ADAS & Autonomous Vehicles Special Report - December 2024 - 18

TECHNOLOGY REPORT
trying to get to DriftX. TXAI's starts,
stops and lane mergers were smoother
and more " human " than other AVs I've
ridden in, showing promise that when
the AV revolution actually comes to the
UAE, it's likely to be a comfortable one.
Bayanat's four autonomous shuttles
can carry 10 people (8 with a safety
driver) each and have a range of 140 km
(87 miles). DC fast charging allows the
EVs to fully charge in 90 minutes. The
self-driving tech uses software written
by Bayanat and its partners and can be
remote controlled from the Integrated
Transport Centre (ITC) on Yas Island,
which also monitors local traffic. A
Bayanat representative told SAE Media
that further expansion will depend on
interest from the ITC, who will decide
if it is safe to put more of these AVs
on the road. These shuttles were
manufactured in China, with mapping
and app development done by Bayanat.
Remote control: Abu Dhabi,
Korea connected by AVs
Bayanat has more than 16 different
partners from 20 different countries.
South Korea's Autonomous A2Z
displayed its AV shuttle at DriftX and
said it has plans to mass-produce
around 2,500 vehicles starting in
2025 for use in South Korea, Abu
Dhabi, Singapore and some European
countries. A2Z remotely controlled
a vehicle that was moving 7,000 km
(4,350 miles) away in K-City, South
Korea, from its booth at DriftX.
The Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) hosted its inaugural event on the Yas Marina
Circuit in the days following DriftX 2024.
Hyunwoo (Martin) Kim, A2Z project
manager, told SAE Media that this
kind of teleoperation can help the
company fulfill the mission the Korean
government is specifically looking for.
" If you look at the provinces in Korea,
there are many rural areas where the
average age of drivers is around 5658,
which means there are not many
people who want to be a bus driver, "
Kim said. " They're lacking the people.
So the government actually asked
us to operate it autonomously. "
A2Z believes it is important to
have remote drivers to handle edge
cases and is hoping that each remote
operator will be able to control
between 10 and 20 shuttles. Kim
said A2Z, which counts many former
Hyundai Motor Group engineers
among its staff, benefits from
Hyundai's AV work that has already
tapped Korean suppliers to work on
autonomous vehicle components.
DriftX was not limited to road-based
AVs. The event's theme was " Air Land
Sea, " and featured plenty of EVTOL and
water-based AVs. Passenger-carrying
flying AVs are not as advanced as
wheeled AVs, as was made clear when
one of the drones fell out of the sky and
into the bay during a demonstration
flight. No one was injured.
Throughout the conference,
A large DriftX sign welcomed visitors to the first DriftX event on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.
18 DECEMBER 2024
government representatives repeatedly
pointed to the government's strong and
ongoing support for AVs across all three
domains, even when things don't always
work out right the first time. SAVI's
Shahin was quick to point out that the
crash should not be considered a failure.
" It's not a setback, " he said. " This
is an opportunity. Innovation is all
about iteration. It's about learning
from the errors and improving. I think
this is a great opportunity for the
company to learn what went wrong,
what should be improved, and how
to make sure this never happens
again. And this is why we test. "
Sebastian Blanco
ADAS & AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES SPECIAL REPORT
BOTH IMAGES: SEBASTIAN BLANCO

ADAS & Autonomous Vehicles Special Report - December 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ADAS & Autonomous Vehicles Special Report - December 2024