SK Telecom has announced the completion of a successful test run of a self-driving vehicle in public as part of its foray into the autonomous and connected vehicle segment.

During the test run, the operator’s self-driving car traveled 26 kilometers in real world traffic conditions at a speed of up to 80 kilometers per hour.

The demonstration took place on Korea’s most heavily traveled expressway, the Gyeongbu Expressway. The vehicle traveled at an average speed of 50 kilometers per hour throughout the test.

The vehicle’s software had been programmed not to exceed the 80km/hr speed limit due to government regulations covering test-driving of autonomous vehicles.

SK Telecom secured a license to test its autonomous car on local roads in July. The company’s vehicle tech lab has been working with partners including LG Electronics, Nvidia and a Seoul National University team to develop self-driving technologies such as AI, sensors, communication and route determination/tracing functionality.

“Following today’s successful test-driving of our autonomous vehicle on an expressway, we will continue to test our self-driving cars on downtown roads, national highways and motorways,” SK Telecom SVP and head of network R&D Park Jin-hyo said.

“Furthermore, we will connect self-driving vehicles to our 5G trial networks to advance technologies that can significantly enhance driving safety via IoT and real-time communication with the control tower.”