This week, SK Telecom, South Korea's largest mobile operator, signed a memorandum of understanding with Mars Auto, which designs artificial intelligence solutions for self-driving buses.。

According to the memo, the two sides will jointly explore how to combine SK Telecom's 5G capabilities with Mars Auto's "Mars Pilot" artificial intelligence system, enabling the latter to make driving decisions based on real-time data provided by multiple in-vehicle cameras.。

The two partners said that the role of artificial intelligence in the development of self-driving cars is becoming increasingly prominent, which enables cars to accurately predict traffic conditions and potential dangers.。This is particularly important for large vehicles such as trucks, because they have greater braking distances and require more time to deal with hazards。

According to SKT, in the project, Mars Pilot will be trained on data collected by SK Telecom on more than 100 million kilometers of roads to make more informed decisions under conditions of complex external stimuli such as traffic and weather conditions.。

Park Il-soo, CEO of Mars Auto, said: "This partnership completes the infrastructure required for AI software applications to maximize their potential.。After that, we will build safer and more efficient driverless services。"

SK Telecom's interest in self-driving cars has a long history.。

Since 2018, the operator has been working with the Korea Transportation Safety Agency to develop 5G autonomous vehicles at K-City in Hwaseong, a smart city built specifically for autonomous vehicles.。

Since then, SK Telecom has been the head of many other autonomous pilot projects, having led connected-to-the-car (V2X) tests on a 32km stretch of road in Seoul.。

SK Telecom also entered into a partnership with German operator Deutsche Telekom this week with a commitment to jointly develop a big language model for the telecom industry, with a focus on developing the next generation of digital assistants.。

The partnership, which will reportedly be based on SK Telecom's $100 million investment in AI company Anthropic, is the first in a series of collaborative projects planned by the Global Telco AI Alliance.。The alliance was formed earlier this year by Deutsche Telekom, e &, SingTel and SKT.。