Samsung and the Korea Transportation Safety Authority (KOTSA) signed an agreement to jointly develop an open innovation lab at K-City, the country’s test bed for autonomous driving technology.

Under the agreement, the two organisations will create a network test zone for autonomous driving and connected cars, with Samsung building 4G, 5G and vehicle-to-everything (V2X) networks as well as related IT infrastructure at the site.

Byung Yoon Kwon, director of KOTSA, said the open environment is expected to serve as “a unique innovation lab for industry partners that will ultimately enable them to accelerate the availability of autonomous driving”.

He said the objective is to provide real-world autonomous driving experiences for people and businesses across various industries.

In addition to installing the network equipment, Samsung will build key IT infrastructure, such as mobile edge computing sites near base stations, to guarantee low latency to support instant communication between fast-moving vehicles.

KOTSA and SK Telecom, the largest mobile operator in South Korea, in February conducted trials at K-City using two self-driving vehicles which shared traffic information via the operator’s pre-standard 5G network.

The country’s three mobile operators on 1 December simultaneously turned on their 5G networks, launching what they claim are the world’s first commercial 5G services based on 3GPP standards.