South Korea's top auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis Co. said Thursday that it has received a temporary license for testing self-driving technologies, the latest in a series of moves by Seoul to develop autonomous vehicles.

It marks the first time that a local auto parts maker has received a license for test driving.


Hyundai Motor, a flagship unit of the South Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor Group, received a license in March to test drive its Genesis luxury sedan equipped with a high-tech driving assist system.

The latest license issued in May paved the way for Hyundai Mobis, the auto parts making unit of Hyundai Motor Group, to test its self-driving technologies installed in a Hyundai Sonata mid-sized sedan.

The sedan has five radar arrays, a camera and a microautobox, and is ready for test runs on a highway and different sections of other roads designated by the government beginning this month. The total length of the roads available is 320 kilometers.

The microautobox plays the role of a brain that controls the radar and camera sensors that allow the car to keep a safe distance from the car ahead, change lanes and avoid collisions.

A researcher of Hyundai Mobis is set to get behind the wheel during the test drive, but he will not drive the car unless he faces a situation in which there is danger or automated driving is impossible, according to the company.

The license will be good for five years.

South Korea, the world's fifth-largest automobile producer, is pushing to not lag behind its global competitors, including Google and Telsa, in developing autonomous vehicles. (Yonhap)