Mobility confab focuses on flying future, and the Omnipod

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Mobility confab focuses on flying future, and the Omnipod

You Seung-il, chief technology officer of Kakao Mobility, gives an opening speech at the “Next Mobility: NEMO 2022” tech conference held at Coex, southern Seoul, on Thursday. [KAKAO MOBILITY]

You Seung-il, chief technology officer of Kakao Mobility, gives an opening speech at the “Next Mobility: NEMO 2022” tech conference held at Coex, southern Seoul, on Thursday. [KAKAO MOBILITY]

 
Kakao Mobility held a conference on the future of transportation, introducing its vision and allowing others in the business to do the same.
 
"Next Mobility: NEMO 2022" was held Thursday at Coex, southern Seoul, and participants attended in person and online.
 
"We will go beyond just refining our transportation means and think about the possibilities that will open up to us by changing our daily lives," Ryu Gung-seon, CEO of Kakao Mobility said in an opening speech during the conference.
 
Kakao Mobility offers Kakao T, a taxi-hailing app, and products for accessing bus and train schedules. It is 59 percent owned by Kakao, 29.9 percent by a Texas Pacific Group (TPG) consortium, 6.4 percent by the Carlyle Group and 2.5 percent by LG Corp.
 
Tech companies and electronics manufacturers attended the conference and discussed the advancements that have been made in "mobility," which includes products and services related to the transportation of people and goods and is increasingly focused on self-driving cars and air taxis.
 
Attendees included Park Il-pyung, president of LG Science Park, Chris Urmson, CEO of U.S. self-driving car manufacturer Aurora, and Florian Reuter, CEO of German aircraft maker Volocopter.
 
Models introduce the self-driving robots and a Porsche Taycan equipped with the sensors needed for building Kakao Mobility's digital twin, during the “Next Mobility: NEMO 2022” held in Coex, southern Seoul, Thursday. [YONHAP]

Models introduce the self-driving robots and a Porsche Taycan equipped with the sensors needed for building Kakao Mobility's digital twin, during the “Next Mobility: NEMO 2022” held in Coex, southern Seoul, Thursday. [YONHAP]

 
To achieve its next mobility goal, Kakao Mobility will be to build a digital twin of Korea to be used for navigation.
 
Rather than using satellite images, Kakao Mobility will use robots and cars equipped with sensors to drive around the country and establish a detailed map of the roads. They will collect the data needed to run automated navigation programs, not the visual records that people need.
 
"The map is not to be used by people," said You Seung-il, the chief technology officer of Kakao Mobility. "The digital twin will be used for all mobility businesses in the future — not just air taxis, but smart cities and basically anywhere that has anything moving."
 
LG Electronics revealed a scale model of the Omnipod for the first time on Thursday. The electronics manufacturer introduced the idea of the self-driving Omnipod vehicle at the CES 2022 trade show last month in Las Vegas.
 
The autonomous driving vehicle is meant to be used for a variety of lifestyle activities beyond simple transportation, such as watching movies or camping. The aim is to make a car a lifestyle space, not merely a means of transportation, where people can enjoy a variety of activities.
 
LG Electronic's Omnipod was revealed for the first time at the “Next Mobility: NEMO 2022” tech conference held at Coex, southern Seoul, on Thursday. [YONHAP]

LG Electronic's Omnipod was revealed for the first time at the “Next Mobility: NEMO 2022” tech conference held at Coex, southern Seoul, on Thursday. [YONHAP]

The Omnipod is built in with a large digital panel that shows an artificial intelligence (AI) driving assistant that also offers other entertainment functions like dancing or working out together with the passengers. [YONHAP]

The Omnipod is built in with a large digital panel that shows an artificial intelligence (AI) driving assistant that also offers other entertainment functions like dancing or working out together with the passengers. [YONHAP]

 
"When you have self-driving cars, what are you going to do with the time that you are spending not driving?" said Park.
 
"Omnipod is a 'versatile moving space,' not just a car. So our goal is to provide as many in-vehicle experiences so that passengers and drivers can both spend productive time like they do at home."
 
Flying cars, especially air taxis, were also discussed.
 
According to Aurora's Urmson, they are very close to becoming a reality.
 
"We've been exploring related technologies for some years now, and the opportunity is profound," Urmson said.  
 
Key players such as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's Aurora and Bruchsal, Germany's Volocopter are focusing on developing safe, cost-efficient and low-emission aircraft that can safely transport people and cargo. But the challenge lies more on the legal side than the technical side, according to Volocopter CEO Reuter.
 
“Next Mobility: NEMO 2022” tech conference held at Coex, southern Seoul, on Thursday [KAKAO MOBILITY]

“Next Mobility: NEMO 2022” tech conference held at Coex, southern Seoul, on Thursday [KAKAO MOBILITY]

 
"Regarding the technology, we are already ready to operate fully automated air vehicles without any human involved," he said.
 
"But there are regulations that are applied in our airspace and the ecosystem is very complex. We also need to take into account unforeseen circumstances such as birds in the air space. But we believe that air taxis will be feasible within the next five to 10 years."
 
Volocopter has signed an agreement with Kakao Mobility to carry out joint experiments using the German company's air vehicles and transportation and navigation data owned by Kakao Mobility.
 
The two companies conducted test flights from Gimpo International Airport and Incheon International Airport last year and will carry out further tests in Korea.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]
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