Kia is finally getting into the autonomous driving phenomenon sweeping car brands of late with the introduction of “DRIVE WISE”. This sub-brand encompasses future Advanced Driver Assistance Systems or ADAS. In addition, Kia has already announced plans to manufacture partially-autonomous cars by 2020 and fully autonomous vehicles 2030.

For those keeping score, it’s a full decade late compared to the 2020 target given by Japanese brands such as Nissan. However, it must be noted that DRIVE WISE enables Kia to engineer improved safety for all road users while changing the way in which owners interact with their vehicles in the near future.

By 2020, Kia aims to introduce its first partially-autonomous car with DRIVE WISE technologies, building upon the current generation of driver-assistance systems.

The more advanced technologies under development by Kia provide the driver with greater levels of assistance, anticipating and reacting to changing road conditions and potential hazards to improve safety for all road users. By helping to eliminate many of the inherent dangers, stresses and hassles of driving on today’s congested roads, DRIVE WISE will enable owners to focus more on the pleasures of driving.


Kia’s future DRIVE WISE technologies on display at CES 2016 include Highway Autonomous Driving, Urban Autonomous Driving, Preceding Vehicle Following, Emergency Stop System, Traffic Jam Assist and a new Autonomous Parking & Out function.

DRIVE WISE technologies will also facilitate communication and interaction between the driver and vehicle with innovative new Human Machine Interface (HMI) functions, such as gesture control, fingerprint sensors and smart-device connectivity.

In order to fast track DRIVE WISE’s development, Kia is pouring in an initial US$ 2 billion investment (by 2018). Additionally, the US state of Nevada has granted the Korean automaker a special license to test the new technologies on public roads. Kia’s all-electric Soul EV is acting as the brand’s test bed on roads around Death Valley.

Key to Kia’s future DRIVE WISE technologies is the development of its vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications system. For Kia to advance its partially-autonomous ADAS technologies far enough to bring the true ‘self-driving car’ to market by 2030, V2X must be fully integrated into real-life driving environments and be able to react as a human driver can.

V2X applies a series of sensors, radar, LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) and external cameras, to perceive the surrounding environment and all relevant obstacles, as a human driver does. The system incorporates vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) technologies as well, allowing the car to recognize, judge and control every driving scenario, obstacle or potential threat.